The Triforce Tournament
by Random Mexican Guy
Summary: 5 schools get together to participate in the most important historic event. The selected champions must compete in five dangerous tasks themed forest, fire, water, spirit & shadow respectively. Link can't wait for it to start! Based off HP's Triwizard T.
1. The Triforce Tournament

**Here I will write a more detailed summary of the story since I found the other space very reduced:**

** Five schools get together to participate in a historic event that takes place every thirty years: the Triforce Tournament. A champion is selected from each school, and they must participate in five dangerous tasks themed forest, fire, water, spirit and shadow. Despite this is the main idea of the story, another plot (and far more dangerous) develops throughout the story and Link and his friends must do their best to solve it before it's too late…**

**Based off Harry Potter's Triwizard Tournament.**

Chapter 1: The Triforce Tournament

The castle known as the Hyrule Academy was a prestigious high school dedicated to prepare its students for the future in a wide range of educational areas. Its colossal outer walls protunded from the vast sea of tree pines high in a distant hill located in the northeast of Hyrule, with Kakariko Village down at its feet. The school was founded by the Hero of Time two hundred years ago, when he managed to defeat the porter of darkness and evil king, Ganondorf. Its purpose was to prepare its students mentally, physically, and intellectually for any challenge they faced in their lives, and to be nourished with wisdom the Hero of Time had passed down through generations.

High above in the eastern tower, Hyrule Academy's junior students were taking their Artifacts class. Professor Medli was writing notes on today's chapter on the blackboard, while only one fifth of the students were giving her their fullest attention. Some students were trying hard to focus on what Professor Medli was saying, but something else in their minds kept popping up constantly.

A seventeen-year-old blond guy wasn't bothering to put attention at all, and was peering through the window next to his desk distractingly, watching the sun's morning rays slowly penetrating the high clouds. That night, students from all over the region would come to the academy to presence one of the most important events in history, and that was the only thing Link could think of.

"…the Fierce Deity's Mask is one of the most powerful objects known until today," Link heard Professor Medli said, "The only known copy resides in a historic museum in Termina."

Termina… Termina…. Link remembered Shane saying something about a school from Termina coming. He couldn't wait for them to arrive. He wondered which other schools would be arriving to the academy tonight.

He looked impatiently at the clock hung over the blackboard where Medli was writing more notes: 9:24 a.m. Six minutes more and he would be able to leave the classroom and continue asking people for information about the Triforce Tournament. Headmaster Rauru had just struck them with the news last night, and Link hadn't have time to digest the information yet. Link peered over his shoulder to have a look at his classmates. All of them looked tired but, like him, excited. It was evident in their exhausted eyes that none of them was able to sleep well the night before. It took Link a few seconds to realize that Zelda's great blue eyes were staring at him from several desks behind in the row next to his. Link seemed unable to get used to her presence, even though they have been in the same class since their freshman year. Her breathtaking beauty was too much for Link's blue eyes to look at that he had to break eye contact quickly.

A sudden burst of laughing from behind made Link look back once more, just to see Baito, his brunette friend, and Shane, his brown-haired best friend, chuckling hard trying to make the less amount of noise as possible. Their laughter was loud enough for Professor Medli to hear them, though.

"Mr. Jones and Mr. Hermes," said Professor Medli in a strong voice, her red eyes glaring at them and pointing the classroom's door with her left wing fully extended, "Out!"

Link thought it was completely pointless to kick students out of the classroom when there were only three minutes left of class, but he merely watched his two friends exit the door still laughing about something. Link usually seated at the back of the classroom with Baito and Shane, usually making jokes about Agitha's over-sized butterfly earrings and such. Today was not the case, though. Link thought he needed fresh air from the breeze that entered the open window at the front of the class in order to avoid falling asleep, hence why he seated in one of the front desks. However, he was glad he sat right where he was today, or he would have probably been kicked out like his friends. Most of the teachers saw him as a well-behaved student, and he wanted to keep that image.

The bell's loud ringing brought relief to most of the students as they stood up, preparing to leave.

"Remember that next class we'll have a quiz!" reminded Medli as she erased the blackboard, while students were noisily leaving behind her back.

"Shad, do you think I can borrow your notes?" Link asked the nerdy-looking redhead sitting next to his desk, who was packing his Artifacts notebook inside his bag, "I was falling asleep through all the class."

"Um… sure Link," he said in a timid voice, looking shyly at him behind his round glasses. He took out the same notebook he was packing a moment ago and handed it to Link. "So, um… I heard you were planning to enter the Triforce Tournament."

"Who doesn't!" replied Link excitedly, packing the notebook Shad just gave him in his bag.

"Not me," admitted Shad, trailing behind Link as he exited the classroom, "Do you know that people have died in this tournament?"

"Who cares?" exclaimed Link carefree, descending the marble staircase in a haste. "It makes it more exciting."

* * *

"I heard the Gerudo chicks are hot!" exclaimed Shane excitedly to Link. They were sitting under the big oat tree they usually sat in one of the academy's gardens, along with Baito, Hena, and Linda. The Inseparable Five, they were called. Hena was a vivacious girl who loved fishing more than anything. Her face was full of freckles, and her hair wasn't even red as expected to be, but a dark brown color. Linda was an oddball, at least physically looking. Her hair was naturally blue, along with eyes to match. Her personality was shy, but once someone gained her trust, she was an awesome friend, or at least that's how Link thought of her. Her overall mysterious appearance seemed to attract a lot of guys in the academy.

"But they are all cold," said Hena before Link could respond, "They were trained for battle, mostly."

"That still sounds sexy," said Baito, in his usual deep, manly voice. The other four laughed at his comment.

"Which other schools are coming?" asked Link to no friend in particular, noticing Zelda and her friends walking across the lawn in front of them, going to their usual sitting spot near the stone fountain in the middle of the garden.

"A school of Zora, maybe," suggested Shane, watching Farore, Zelda's green-haired best friend, out of the corner of his eye. Linda couldn't help but laugh at Shane's comment.

"Don't be silly," she said, speaking for the first time since they sat beneath the oak tree. She had been busy reading _Hyrule's Field Creatures_, sitting a yard away from her friends so she could concentrate. She was listening to every single bit they were saying, though, "Only humans or semi-humans are allowed to enter this tournament."

"Why?" asked Hena indignantly, kicking the grass below her feet, "That's discrimination!"

"Because the tournament wouldn't be balanced, otherwise," Linda explained, peering over her book to look at them, "Imagine a swimming competition: a Zora would have an unfair advantage while a heavy Goron wouldn't be able to enter the water at all."

"Kind of makes sense," admitted Link.

"Are you girls trying to enter the tournament?" asked Baito, looking at the two girls in the group.

"I guess I could try," said Hena after thinking about it, "But I don't see myself being selected out of the entire academy to represent it."

"I don't plan to enter it," uttered Linda decisively while still reading her book, not hesitating to look at them, "Did you know that final exams are cancelled for the school's champion?"

"And let me guess," said Shane surprised, looking at her, "You think that's a bad thing, don't you?"

The four of them burst to laugh as Linda didn't respond, pretending she didn't hear Shane's question when she was actually chuckling too behind her book. The sound of splashing water made her head turn away from her book in the direction of the noise. Zelda and her friends had left their school shoes on the grass beside the fountain, and were now playing inside it, splashing each other with water and laughing.

Linda frowned at them in disgust and then returned her attention back to her book. She hated her, or maybe… she was just jealous? Zelda was the kind of girl that whenever she entered a place she immediately drew everyone's attention, because of her outstanding beauty, charismatic personality, or both. Being the heir of the throne of Hyrule, she was also easily the richest student in the academy. All of the golden accessories she wore all the time were proof of it. Still, Linda had something that Zelda hadn't managed to take away from her since their freshman year.

"We need to get going," said Link to Linda, who was now standing before her, offering her a hand and smiling broadly. "Potions class starts in a few minutes."

Linda smiled back at him, and accepted his hand. Link helped her stand back on her feet and both of them hurried to catch up with Baito, Shane and Hena, who were walking a few yards ahead of them. Zelda and her friends were now putting on their shoes back on the lawn. Zelda swung her magnificent golden hair, sending water droplets flying in every direction. Some of them hit Link on the face as he passed by her side, and he turned his head to look at her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, giving him the same mysterious and overwhelming smile that made all of the guys melt. She looked extremely beautiful in Link's opinion, even though she was soaked in water.

"No problem," he heard himself say to her, returning a nervous smile. Both of them just stood there, smiling at each other for what Link thought it was days, months, or even years.

"It's getting late, Link," hurried Linda, pulling him by the arm and forcibly leading him away from Zelda, whose eyes followed Link until he disappeared among the crowd of students from all years that were rushing their way back inside.

* * *

"Today, we'll be making Eye Droplets," explained Professor Hollo as he stood on top of his desk so that the class could see him, compensating his short height. Like all Koroks, Hollo had a wood-like body with short arms and legs, along with a big leaf placed where his face would be, "The ingredients," he continued, pointing the blackboard behind him with his short right arm, "are already written in the blackboard. You have the entire hour to finish your potion. Once you're done with it, fill a flask with your potion and leave it in my desk to grade it."

The students immediately took out their small-sized cauldrons from their bags and placed them in front of their desks. Unlike most of the classes, students had to share table with other four people in Potions class. That was the main reason why students find it the perfect time to converse with their friends. Usually each group was too busy doing their potions to attempt to eavesdrop other conversations, which is why Link felt completely free to talk about anything with his friends in this class.

"Do you know how champions are selected?" asked Link to the table while he placed his own cauldron in front of him.

"Dunno," answered Shane, looking over Link's shoulder to read the instructions on the blackboard. What made it too difficult to read whatever was written in the blackboard in Potions class was the fact that colored fumes erupting from Hollo's potions always clouded the classroom, diminishing everyone's visibility.

"I guess the headmaster of each school selects the student they desire, after all they'll be representing their school," inferred Linda, reading the instructions on the blackboard too, "but of course that's just a guess."

"Let's see…" Hena read out loud, "we need fairy powder, gold dust, and an eyeball frog…"

"Remember that the eyeball frogs are over there," reminded Hollo, pointing the big crystal tank located at the very end of the classroom where half a dozen eyeball frogs were jumping like crazy inside it, "There are not enough for everyone; once you finish removing the tears from them, return them to the tank so others teams can use them."

"And I don't want to see any eyeball frogs jumping freely in my classroom," he added, this time looking at Shane cautiously, "Did you hear me, Mr. Hermes?"

"C'mon Prof, it just happened once!" complained Shane forcing himself not to laugh. In their freshman year he accidentally let loose a two-meter snake, earning himself detention for the rest of that year. Some of the students around Shane couldn't stop themselves from laughing, as they too remember that unforgettable experience.

"Let's see," said Linda as she returned back to her table, an eyeball frog held firmly in her right hand and two flasks in her left "Here's the gold dust," she informed leaving the flask that emitted a golden light on the table in front of Hena, "Here's the fairy powder…" she handed the flask containing a bright, pink powder to Link, "And well, here's the eyeball frog."

"Pour two-hundred milliliters of eyeball frog tears inside the cauldron, and kindle a fire underneath," Baito read out loud, "How the hell are we going to collect so many tears out of this small thing?"

"You'll be surprised," said Linda as she sat in the chair between Link and Hena, "An eyeball frog expels an average of three liters of water through the eyes a day."

"Wow," exclaimed Link, wondering how the small frog was able to contain so much water inside, "And how are going to force the tears out of it?"

"You have to squeeze them slowly but hard in the head," indicated Linda as she kindled a flame underneath her cauldron with a match.

"Disgusting!" exclaimed Hena, mimicking Linda's action.

"I'll do it," said Baito confidently, grabbing the eyeball frog out of Linda's hand, "I have the strongest grip."

Looking at Baito's muscled arms and broad shoulders, Linda thought he was probably right. The rest seemed to think that too, as they didn't complain as Baito started squeezing the poor animal above their cauldrons, forcing it to pour constant tears in it.

"Do you think you can grind this gold dust even further, Link?" asked Linda, handing him the flask containing the gold dust, "It would make the potion better."

"Sure," he said, pouring the gold dust on the table and grinding it with one of his cauldron's feet.

"Add the gold dust and extinguish the flame," Shane read out loud, "Then stir the concoction counterclockwise for one minute."

Hena added the now-grinded gold dust to all of their potions, trying hard to pour the same amount of dust to all the cauldrons.

What Link liked about his team in Potions class was that they were so united. They always followed the instructions at the same time, helping a partner struggling with their potion if needed. At the end, all of their potions looked equally, or almost equally, and they usually got the same grade.

"Excuse me, are you done using the eyeball frog?" said a soft voice behind Link's left pointy ear. Link turned his head just to find himself face to face with no other than Zelda. She was bending over him so low from behind that their heads were leveled, and her lips just centimeters away from his.

"Yea, sure, you can have it," Link said nervously, grabbing the eyeball frog that was eyeing Baito with fear and offering it to her. Zelda carefully grabbed the frog in her hand with a firm grasp.

"Thank you so much," she uttered in the same warm voice, walking away gracefully from their table and making her way back to her friends' table at the opposite end of the classroom.

"She likes you," uttered Baito, direct and honest, scattering the fairy powder over his potion.

"What?" asked Link nervously, feeling his cheeks turning red. The whole table was staring at him.

"Zelda," he repeated calmly, "She likes you."

"How do you know?" questioned Link, trying to sound relaxed.

"I just know," responded Baito, stirring his potion at top speed.

"Man, remember you're talking with the guy that has dated all the girls in the academy," said Shane boringly, rolling his eyes.

"Not all," said Baito defensively, stopping his stirring and frowning at Shane.

"Anyway, Link isn't even interested in that girl, right Link?" uttered Linda, looking at Link hopefully.

"Em… no, I don't," lied Link, avoiding her stare and pretending to be deeply interested in adding the fairy powder to his concoction.

After they finished their potions and assured that they had the same crystalline color, Link's team started submerging the flasks on their concoctions to fill them. Leaving the filled flasks on Professor Hollo's desk, Link and his friends left the misty classroom. Before closing the door behind her, Linda noticed that they were the first team to leave, and saw Zelda struggling with a potion that had turned a deep purple, opposed to the crystalline color it must have. Smiling broadly to herself in satisfaction, Linda closed the door.

* * *

The Dinning Hall was easily one of the biggest rooms in the ancient castle, with its high ceiling decorated with delicate hanging chandeliers and enormous size enough for three two-story, middle-sized houses to fit inside comfortably. A red carpet crossed the middle of the hall, and two wide tables enough for one-hundred people to sit on each were at either side of the mat. The sophomore's and senior's tables were the closest to the big doors that led to the green castle's grounds, the same doors that new students feared to cross for the first time. On the other hand, the freshman's and junior's tables were the closest to the teacher's table, which was distinctively at a higher level than the other tables due to the small staircase at the end of the carpet, but it was also one-fifth the size of the other tables.

Link noticed that the Dinning Hall looked different tonight, though. Four additional tables about the size of the teachers' were added, two on either side of the mat, next to the stationary tables. Also additional seats had been added at the teachers' table. The armors and the floor looked spotlessly clean, more than usual. An atmosphere of excitement and nervousness reigned in the Dinning Hall. Some of the students were eagerly peering through the big windows on one side of the hall from their table, expecting their guests' arrival. Others were looking at Professor Rauru apprehensively, knowing that he would be speaking anytime soon. The headmaster, however, looked calm and serene, a smile distinguished on his elderly features.

The big doors suddenly opened, and the students reflexively turned their heads in their direction, looking excited. However, they were more than disappointed to see Dampé, the scary-looking school's gamekeeper, entering the Dinning Hall and closing the big doors behind him noisily. He was also their new Spiritual Phenomena teacher this year, after Professor Zant was sent to a mental institution after he reached insanity. The lame gamekeeper made his way to the teachers' table, limping all the way through. After finally reaching his destination, he came closer to Professor Rauru and whispered something in his ear. The headmaster merely nodded, and Dampé made his way back to the doors, at the same slow pace.

"What the hell was that for?" asked Shane to their friends, watching Dampé's slow progress.

"No idea," responded Baito, punching the table with his fists, "But I hope they arrive soon. I'm starving."

Dampé finally disappeared through the big doors, and the students' attention switched back to the headmaster, who abruptly stood up from his chair. As if someone had instantly turned down the volume, the chattering occurring in the Dinning Hall died almost instantly when they saw their headmaster clearing his throat.

"As you know," he said in a high and clear voice, "Students from different schools will be arriving today to make their participation in one of the most important events in history, the Triforce Tournament."

Several people started clapping but the headmaster quickly raised a hand to silence them. The effect was almost immediate.

"Without further waiting," said Professor Rauru, moving his right hand in front of him, with open palm and horizontally, "Let's welcome the ladies of the Gerudo Fortress and her headmistress, Miss Nabooru!"

The students clapped excitedly as the big doors were opened wide, revealing a group of about two dozens of young ladies making their way through the red carpet, guided by an older Gerudo that seemed to be the headmistress. Link thought Shane was right; they were sexy, but in a very exotic way. All of them were brunettes, with flaring red hair down to waist level, tied in a ponytail behind their heads. They looked extremely fit in Link's opinion, and they represented their warrior characteristics very well. They wore a shawl over their mouths, their only visible facial features being their eyes, round ears, and a prominent nose. Some students were wolf-whistling at them as they passed by. The Gerudo students stopped dead in their tracks when they reached the end of the red carpet, and only Miss Nabooru climbed the stairs. Professor Rauru bent down to kiss Miss Nabooru's hand politely, and then extended his right hand, indicating the table where her students will be sitting. The Gerudo girls quietly made their way to the indicated table, and Miss Nabooru sat in the teacher's table, right next to Professor Rauru. However, the headmaster immediately stood up again.

"Second, let's welcome the students from the Sheikah College, and their headmistress Professor Impa!" said Professor Rauru, and another round of applause erupted in the hall.

The big doors opened once more, and another group of students came in. They were guided by a mighty-looking woman with gray hair walking at a fast pace toward Professor Rauru, ignoring the curious glances the Hyrule Academy's students were giving her. There was more of less the same amount of boys and girls, all of them extremely tall. The guys wore a cobalt blue vestment while the ladies wore a deep purple one. They all had the same red emblem across their chest: a human eye with three triangles above it and a large tear drop running down from the eye.

"Sheikah!" exclaimed Hena excitedly.

"I thought they were extinct…" said Shane, looking confused.

"Don't be stupid," Linda told him with an eyebrow raised, "Their numbers have been decreasing lately, though."

"I think they're at an unfair advantage," Baito whispered to Link, "They are good combatants AND skilled at magic."

Link knew what Baito was talking about. In Hyrule Academy, those gifted with magical skills (around one-fifth of the students) took Magic class with Professor Venus, but those who didn't, like all of Link's best friends, were forced to take Swordsmanship class.

After Professor Impa seated next to Miss Nabooru and her students occupied the table next to the sophomore's, which was on the opposite side of the Gerudo's table, Professor Rauru stood once more.

"Next, let's give a warm welcome to the Kokiri from the Deku Tree School and their headmaster, Mr. Mido!"

The two additional groups of students helped the rest in the clapping as a group of short people entered the Dinning Hall. Link knew them very well, as the forest where they lived was right next to Ordon Village, Link's hometown. Their average height was at most five feet, and their faces also looked young for being in high school. They all wore the same green garb and a pair of mountain shoes which made an awkward sound each time they stepped on the spotless floor of the hall. Some of Hyrule Academy's students couldn't help but laugh at them. Link had a hard time looking for the headmaster until he recognized the redhead walking in front of the others, with an authority pace. He was still the same height as his students, though.

"How mean!" said Hena indignantly, looking at a senior student pointing them and laughing after they passed his table, "It's not their fault they are so short!"

"I thought they couldn't leave the Kokiri Forest!" said Shane, dumbfounded, "I thought they died if they did so!"

"No, no, that's rubbish," Linda told him, "That's what they IMAGINED would happen if they left the forest fifty years ago; nowadays they leave it all the time!"

"Oh…" was all what Shane could utter.

"You never put attention in Hyrule's History class, don't you?" Linda asked him angrily.

"You know I don't," he smiled at her.

"Do you think they will be threat too, Baito?" Link asked his friend, who was looking at the Kokiri with respect, rather than making fun of them like the rest.

"Well, they have decent skills at magic and run quite fast," he said, stroking his own hair with his thumb and index finger, "But they lack strength."

Professor Rauru cleared his throat loudly and the chattering stopped immediately once again.

"Finally, let's welcome the students from the Clock Institution and their headmaster, Captain Viscen!" he said enthusiastically, directing his view to the big doors for the last time.

The big doors opened once more, and the last group of students came marching in to the applause of the almost-full Dinning Hall. They were guided by an intimidating tall soldier wearing a similar mail to the one the Hyrule's soldier used, with the exception of the Terminan symbol encrusted across his chest. Link was happy to see that the last group of students looked similar in appearance to them, with a barely noticeable exception: While Hyrule Academy's students were a mixture of Hylians and humans, the students from the Clock Institution were all humans.

Captain Viscen shook Professor Rauru's hand politely and sat next to Mido while his students made their way to the remaining empty table next to Link's. Now that all the schools were inside the castle, the Dinning Hall looked ridiculously crowded with approximately eighty students more than usual.

"Welcome! Welcome!" uttered Rauru throatily, extending both hands into the air before the students as if wishing to embrace the entire Dinning Hall. "I sincerely hope that you'll enjoy your stay, here at Hyrule Academy!"

Hena couldn't help looking at the grim expressions the Gerudo students had, eyeing the Dinning Hall with disgust and murmuring between them. A Gerudo, which was the only one that still had the shawl over her mouth, was laughing at Rauru under her coverings.

"No one's making them stay!" exclaimed Hena to Baito indignantly, frowning at the girl.

"I like them to be here," responded Baito, looking at the girl as his next dating target. Hena merely rolled her eyes.

"Now, I would like to present you a dear guest and personal friend of mine, who will have the honor of explaining the details about the Triforce Tournament," said Rauru with a pleasant smile, "Please welcome the king of Hyrule, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule III!"

"Talk about short names," Shane joked to Link as the Dinning Hall applauded, most of them looking at the big doors, expecting his entrance. But the king of Hyrule didn't use the big doors, as he was already inside the castle. Hyrule III came out inadvertently of the teachers' room, which was located behind the teachers' table. He walked in Professor Rauru's direction, embracing him as an old friend when he reached him. The students took some time to realize what have just happened, and they immediately started clapping when they did so. Professor Rauru returned back to his seat, and the king of Hyrule placed himself in front of the teachers' table, looking at the Dinning Hall pleasantly.

"As you already know, we have been reunited today for a special purpose," he said in an ancient, strong voice. The students were looking at him excitedly. "The Triforce Tournament was designed to test the strength, courage and wisdom of the brave ones who dare to enter it. One student from each school is selected. I should tell you that, once you have been selected, there's no way back; you're obligated to participate. The tournament consists of five dangerous tasks, representing the forest, fire, water, spirit, and shadow themes respectively. The competitors are awarded points according to their performance in each task, and the school champion with more points in the end wins. The prize, you ask? Fifty-thousand rupees are awarded to the winner!"

The students in the Dinning Hall started applauding excitedly and making noise, but the king of Hyrule immediately raised a hand to silence them. "But that's not all, my dear students. The winner also takes home the amazing and glorious… Triforce Cup!" he waved his hand enthusiastically to the floor, making a cloud of dust appear. Once the dust was dispelled, a magnificent golden trophy became visible on the floor. The cup was at least two feet tall, shining reluctantly before the awe-struck students. Daphnes waved his hand again, and the cup disappeared in the same gray cloud from which it came. The students were disappointed that he took it away so soon, and some of them were even staring at him angrily.

"Now, you may be wondering how students are selected," said the king of Hyrule, and many students nodded interestedly. He waved his hand again, and a chalice appeared out of nowhere on the teachers' table, in front of Professor Rauru. "This is the Hylian Chalice," he explained, stepping aside so that the students were able to see the rock-made chalice, a blue light glowing from its contents, "Simply write your name, last name, and your school's name on a piece of paper, and throw it inside. In five days, the chalice itself will give us the five names it thinks are more suited to participate in the tournament. Now, for security measures, I'm sorry to say that no student under seventeen years old is allowed to participate in the tournament."

Upset groans erupted from the freshman table, who were the only students under seventeen years old in the Dinning Hall. Professor Medli, head of the freshman students, stood up immediately behind the king of Hyrule, looking threatening at her students. The angry sounds immediately stopped, the students looking at Professor Medli cautiously. The king of Hyrule smiled, happy that the scandal was over.

"Finally," said the king of Hyrule, "I would like to add that the judges who will be awarding points during the tournament are none other than the schools' headmasters and headmistress," he turned at the teachers' table to look at them, and started applauding. He was quickly followed by the students.

After he finished clapping, the king of Hyrule made his way to the big doors, followed by two bulky soldiers at either side. After he disappeared through them, Professor Rauru stood once more.

"Let the feast begin!" he exclaimed, making delicate plates appear on all the tables magically, with delicious food on them. Some of the foreign students gasped amusedly, especially the Kokiri.

"Finally!" exclaimed Baito, diving onto the fruit salad in front him. Hena laughed.

Link was still looking at the Hylian Chalice on top of the teachers' table, intrigued by it. In his mind there was only one thing: would he be selected to represent his school? He didn't know yet, and he was eager to found out. Still, he had to wait for another five days. Tonight, he decided to merely enjoy the feast with his friends.

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Against the Clock

Chapter 2: Against the Clock

"Now this is what I call an assorted feast!" exclaimed Shane, looking amusedly at the different foreign food on the table. He was particularly interested in a dish consisting of an unknown, gelatinous orange matter, which was right in front of Baito.

"What the HELL is this?" the brunette guy said, inspecting the dish from up close, "It looks like horse's crap!"

Hena choked on her Ordon soup, "Baito, I'm eating!" she said before punching him in the shoulder.

"It's_ Darobatoo_" said Linda peering at the dish over Baito's arm in a know-it-all tone.

"Bless you" said Shane with an eyebrow raised.

"It's a Gerudo dish," said Linda, frowning at Shane as if everyone knew that, "My parents and I had it on holidays in Gerudo Town; it's delicious!"

"I rather stab myself in the stomach with my sword before eating that thing," said Baito disgusted, pushing the dish inches away from him across the table.

"I'll gladly eat it after I'm done with this Kokiri Salad," Linda assured him before putting some lettuce inside her mouth with her fork.

"Thank the three goddesses we didn't have Spiritual Phenomena with Dampé this afternoon!" Hena couldn't help saying, grinning broadly. Classes had been suspended since 6:00 p.m. that day, as all of the student body was ordered to go to the Dinning Hall to receive their guests.

"I really wanted to learn more about Poes," said Linda, looking unsurprisingly disappointed.

"Maybe one day I can take you to the cemetery in Kakariko Village, Linda," Baito told her, grabbing an apple from a bowl full of fruits that was near him, "You can study the real thing there; there's plenty of them."

"Ugh, creepy!" interrupted Hena, "You know, seeing a Poe in person."

"They're nothing to write home about," he assured her.

"I don't know why, but I never really liked doing fieldwork," Linda said honestly, "I have always preferred theory."

"Wow! We didn't know that!" exclaimed Shane sarcastically. Linda stared at him.

"Do you know why Zant went insane, in first place?" asked Link randomly.

"Professor Rauru didn't tell us many details," reminded Linda.

"There was this freaky rumor going on around school that he was indeed possessed by evil forces," muttered Shane.

"That sounds really stupid," said Hena immediately, turning to her blue-haired friend, "Right, Linda?"

"I'm not quite sure…" said Linda honestly, "There are too many things scientists don't know about the subject, and considering Zant was in a constant exposure to this phenomenon… it's actually possible."

"Well, now I know why they gave the job to Dampé," said Shane, "He's too freaking scary that no spirit would dare to possess him."

Everyone burst to laugh as they found Shane's comment funny. Even Linda chuckled hard.

"There have been cases, though," said Linda, recovering her intellectual tone, "Of people supposedly being possessed."

Link was about to reply to her, but he was distracted by someone standing behind Baito, someone who's red hair seemed to emit a faint reddish glow.

"Excuse me, are you done with that _Darobatoo_?" asked a voice behind Baito, causing him to turn around. It was the exact same Gerudo girl that had laughed in Rauru's speech. She had finally removed the shawl that previously covered her face, and Baito's prediction of her beauty was quite accurate. Her tanned face had delicate, pretty features, and even though most Gerudo looked alike, she was by far the most beautiful. Behind her head, a long sheet of flaring red hair fell almost to her waist, tied in a ponytail. Baito had to admit he was caught off guard, but he recovered his posture almost immediately.

"Sure, take it;" he said, handing her the dish he was secretly disgusted of, "It was really good."

"Thank you very much," she said, grinning at him with teeth white as snow. She continued to smile at him playfully until she started walking away from their table in a graceful manner, her flaring red hair swinging behind her back. Many boys' heads turned in her direction as she passed near their tables, some of them displaying gaping mouths.

"_It was really good!_" Hena exploded immediately, lightly punching the table with her left fist, "You're such a filthy liar!"

"Well, it was for a noble cause," Baito defended himself, inventing wildly, "You don't want me to start a food dispute with our foreign students do you?"

"You just freaking made that up!" exclaimed Shane, half-laughing.

"Well, maybe I did," admitted Baito calmly, drinking some orange juice from his cup, still smiling.

Hena was still looking red and staring at Baito when Professor Rauru stood up from his chair at the teacher's table, provoking that dead silence he usually caused again.

"I hope all of you are enjoying the feast!" he said enthusiastically, smiling at his students, and also the foreign ones, "I have an announcement to make to the junior students from their Spiritual Phenomena teacher, Dampé."

Hena's angry expression suddenly changed into a petrified one, her eyes widening as she looked directly at Rauru.

"There's going to be a nocturnal lesson tonight to make up for the missed lesson this afternoon," Professor Rauru indicated, "Dampé will be waiting for you at the front doors outside in five minutes."

"REALLY!" said Hena, looking hysterical and upset, "Unbelievable!"

"Meanwhile, I invite the rest of you to enjoy dessert!" said Rauru clapping his hands, making the dishes' contents disappear and be replaced with colorful cakes, cookies and other highly-sweetened foods.

"Now I really want to stab myself in the stomach," Baito said, disappointed by the news he just heard.

* * *

"This is gross, I preferred Zant as our teacher," Hena muttered to Link as they were making their way through the plentiful tombs in Kakariko Village's cemetery.

Professor Dampé had brought them tonight to this place, and they were supposed to be catching a Poe's soul in a bottle for classwork. They were working in teams; while one member carried the oil lamp around, the other was supposed to fight the Poe with a sword in order to get its soul. Much to the girls' dismay, the soil was all muddy and slippery due to the previous downpour earlier that day, and most of them offered to carry the oil lamp as they didn't want to fight in what they called inappropriate conditions. To make matters worse, a thick mist had suddenly clouded the cemetery, making it harder to spot the desired ghost. Link's classmates were scattered around the graveyard, and everyone was minding their own business, clueless about the others' whereabouts.

"I think Zant was crazier than Dampé," responded Link truthfully, holding the sword tight in his grasp as they walked beside a row of gravestones.

"Maybe he was, but he didn't keep us this late at night," reproached Hena, moving the oil lamp in different directions to try to see anything in the foggy environment.

"C'mon, what's better than a night stroll?" joked Link.

"I find this place disgusting and creepy," uttered Hena immediately, freeing her mud-sunken foot. "Any idea where these Poes are?" she asked, looking hopefully at Link.

"Well, they usually hang out around the tombstones," Link said, looking at the row of gravestones continuing ahead of them.

"I can't believe the other schools are comfortably resting in the castle while we have to be here, looking for creepy ghosts," complained Hena.

"The rest of the students are also back in their dormitories," Link pointed out.

"Only the junior students are here, lucky us," said Hena sarcastically.

"Who do you think has the best shot at being selected for the tournament?" asked Link suddenly, looking at her.

"I don't know," she said, scratching her chin, thinking, "Baito looks to me as the fittest guy in our year, but you're the best swordsman."

"Thanks," he said, smiling at the compliment.

"From the girls I would say Zelda," said Hena decisively, "She's gutsy, athletic, and good at magic."

"Zelda is the blonde that approached us in Potions class today, isn't she?" asked Link, pretending to neglect her existence.

"Oh, c'mon Link," said Hena, rolling her eyes.

"What?" asked Link defensively, trying to sound casual.

"I know you like her," she said, laughing, "Don't pretend you don't know she exists."

Link was about to retort, but after seeing Hena's convincing eyes he knew that he wouldn't be able to lie to her anymore.

"Who told you? Shane?" asked Link gloomily.

"He really didn't need to, Link," chuckled Hena, "It's all written in your eyes and the way you act when she's around."

"Am I that obvious?" said Link, blushing.

"Yes, you are," said Hena with a grin, "And so is she."

"What?" asked Link, looking confused.

"I would bet anything that she likes you too," said Hena confidently, "Why have you never talked to her?"

"I have," said Link defensively, frowning.

"Yea, but you guys talk to each other to ask for a quill or an eyeball frog," said Hena, "I meant a real conversation."

"Mm… well I don't know," sighed Link heavily, "Maybe because we have different friend circles."

"That might be true," said Hena, nodding, "But if you really want to have her, you must hurry up, or someone else will win her heart first."

"Yea, you're probably right," said Link, looking convinced. The mist seemed to turn denser and denser each minute.

"Well, I'm resting for now," sighed Hena, leaning against an old-looking tree with no leaves at all, which was a common sight during the early autumn days, "Professor Ruto put us a great sweat today, my legs hurt."

"Why do you complain?" Link retorted, "Professor Darunia made us circle the academy's grounds eight times!"

"Yea, but you like that stuff," she said, sitting on the spot she thought it was less damp, still leaning against the tree, "I don't."

"Well, fine," he finally gave up, "You stay here and I'll go and check the surrounding area."

Hena at first didn't like the idea of being left alone all by herself in the dark cemetery, but after feeling the soreness of her legs complaining to her she thought it wasn't that bad after all.

"Okay, then," she agreed, "Just be quick; I don't like being here all alone."

"Fine, err…." Link hesitated, looking at her with compassion, "I'll need the lamp."

"What? No way!" complained Hena, embracing the oil lamp tightly in her arms as if Link had asked her to hand in her only child.

"How do you want me to spot a Poe in this fog without a source of light?" he asked her, crossing his arms over his chest, "I promise I'll be quick. Remember that we'll be able to leave this place as soon as we find one."

"Okay then…" accepted Hena, not fully convinced, handing Link the oil lamp.

Holding the three-feet-long pointy sword in one hand and the oil lamp in the other, Link ventured inside the mist to find the Poe, leaving Hena behind.

Hena watched Link as he walked away, the mist quickly swallowing him whole. The light coming from the oil lamp Link was carrying reached no more the spot where Hena was, and she found herself suddenly surrounded by nothing but darkness.

She crossed her arms over her chest and she put herself on a comfortable position in the draughty grass. Barely a minute passed before she heard some footsteps nearby from where she was, and her heart started racing. The unknown wanderer was snorting heavily, and Hena was sure they were right behind the tree were she sat. At first she thought they might be some of her wandering classmates looking for Poes, but the snorting sounded really peculiar. Whoever this character was, it didn't sound human. They were surely holding a lantern, or at least some kind of light source, as Hena saw the light penetrating the dense fog. She tried to remain as quiet as possible in the spot were she was, as she was weaponless and an easy target. Luckily the creature kept walking, and the light source was becoming dimmer and dimmer. When she saw that she was in semi-darkness again, she couldn't help but to sigh heavily.

* * *

"There you go," said Link triumphantly, smiling at the Poe's soul trapped inside the glass bottle held in his hand. Link had found a lonely Poe floating over the Royal Family's headstone, which was the biggest in the cemetery, and he didn't waste the opportunity to attack it.

Link took a moment to look at the beautiful, carefully-crated headstone which, Link noticed, seemed to be at a higher height than the rest. Even though Link had visited this place plenty of times, he didn't really ever put attention to the gravestones. It saddened him, as they remind him of his dead parents. He knew very little about them, and he had no idea where they were buried. When he was just one year old, Rusl had found him on the outskirts of Ordon Village, wrapped in blankets in the middle of the road and crying. He took him under his wing, and with his wife's approval, they adopted him. His adoptive family was really poor indeed, but Rusl's constant favors to the king earned him a scholarship at Hyrule's Academy, and Rusl didn't hesitate in giving it to Link, as his son was still too young for high school.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" said a voice suddenly behind Link. He turned in the direction of the voice and found Zelda standing right next to him, looking at the headstone with melancholy. She carefully placed the lantern she was carrying on the grass, and started caressing an engraved symbol on the gravestone: the Triforce. "My whole family rests in this tomb, including my grandparents."

"Oh, I'm sorry," comforted Link, patting her shoulder softly with a trembling hand.

"Don't be," she quickly said, standing back to her feet and looking at Link, "Do you have any dead family members?"

"I'd say all of them," said Link painfully, staring at the grass, "I'm an orphan."

"Oh…" said Zelda blankly.

"But don't worry," Link hastened to say to the sad-looking Zelda, "They left me when I was one year old, so I don't have many memories from them."

"Listen, Link, I won't say that I comprehend your situation, because I still have both parents, so I don't" said Zelda honestly, putting Link's lantern on the grass and holding his hand, "But I can promise you, that you can always find them here…" she took his hand to his chest, where his heart was. Zelda felt how his heart was beating faster.

"That's why I don't worry too much about my grandparents," Zelda said, slowly returning her hand back to her side, "Because I have them inside me."

"Thank you," said Link, smiling slightly at her, "Honestly, thank you."

"Anytime," she said, smiling back, holding his hand with her free hand again. The perfect moment was interrupted one more time, much to Link's dismay.

"Zelda!" called a voice from behind, running towards her. Quickly Din came into view as soon as she was within Zelda's and Link's lanterns range. "I finally caught a Poe's soul! I don't know how…. I guess I was lucky, but anyway, let's get audi! Most of our classmates already finished!"

"Okay, then," said Zelda calmly, carefully descending the mound where the gravestone was, leaving Link where he was. She paused for a moment before turning around to look at Link, smiling, "By the way, the name's Zelda."

"Nice to meet you," said Link back at her, "Mine's Link."

"Yea, I already knew," she simply replied, smiling even broader and turning back to Din's direction, following her through the mist. Link stood were he was for a full ten seconds, the words "I already knew" swimming in his mind. He smiled broadly, and decided to make his way back to Hena.

* * *

"Link?" called Hena with shaky voice, standing to her feet and walking away from the tree, "Is that you?"

She heard no response from the surrounding mist, and her hands started trembling uncontrollably. She really wished to be carrying the heavy oil lamp in this moment. Suddenly someone grabbed her arm from behind, and she reflexively jumped and let out a piercing shriek.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Shane from behind, covering his ears with his hands, "I think my ears just burst!"

"You're such an idiot, Shane!" complained Hena, punching him in the arm, "You really scared me!"

"It wasn't my intention, I swear," said Shane laughing, leaving a glass bottle with a purplish fog inside on the ground and clapping her shoulder.

"A while back I heard some weird noises, was that you too?" asked Hena, recovering from the scare.

"No, I wasn't" said Shane honestly, "What kind of noises?"

"I don't know… it sounded like a pig," said Hena, relating the noise with the most similar sound she could imagine.

"Well, maybe it was a pig, indeed," he said laughing, "There are plenty of them in Kakariko Village."

"I hope it was," said Hena, preferring not to think it was something else, "I see you already got a Poe's soul," she added, noticing the bottle Shane was getting back from the ground, holding a sharp sword on the other.

"It wasn't that difficult," Hena heard a voice say behind Shane, and slowly Linda came into view, carrying an oil lamp in her hands, "Poes' gathering spots are strategically scattered but really easy to find if you identify the trail they left behind."

"Well, you better tell that to Link," said Hena, rolling her eyes, "He's still looking for one."

"If he put attention in yesterday's class, he should already know that," Linda pointed out.

"Linda, honestly," said Shane, exhaling deeply, "Who besides you and Shad ever listen to whatever Dampé is babbling about?"

Linda merely frowned at him while Hena let out a chuckle.

"And where's Baito?" asked Hena, crossing her arms over her chest, shivering; the weather was getting colder.

"Dunno, he's probably somewhere nearby snogging with Farore," said Shane uncomfortably. Linda and Hena laughed, but Shane didn't.

They heard some nearby footsteps, and everyone turned to the sound's direction just to find Link walking toward them, carrying a glass bottle with the same purplish mist inside.

"Work's done!" he called, lifting the bottle high so that Hena could see it.

"Awesome! Now let's get audi!" she hurried. Link stared at her incredulously.

"Kidding, I was just imitating Din," said Hena with a smirk.

* * *

"Champions will be selected tonight!" said Hena excitedly to Link as soon as they exited the Swordsmanship classroom.

"I know! I can't wait," said Link looking eager, walking beside her through the long, dim corridor leading back to the Dinning Hall, with Baito and Linda following behind them, "But the selections don't start until 7 p.m., right?"

"Yes, but many people are already there," commented Hena, climbing the bricked staircase at a fast pace, impatiently.

"I think I'm going to take a bath first," decided Link, smelling his armpit in a dissimulative way. He felt all sweaty and, judging his nose, stinky.

"Gorman gave you a hard battle today, didn't he?" teased Shane behind him.

"Hey, I won in the end, didn't I?" complained Link, turning his head to face him, "But yea, I guess it was a difficult one."

"Well, I can't blame you, Link," comforted Baito, "Gorman is definitely becoming a better swordsman."

"But you are still the best," said Linda immediately, holding his shoulder and smiling at him.

"Thanks," Link said to her, smiling back.

When they reached the end of the staircase and the enormous Dinning Hall became visible before their eyes, they noticed that most of the students were already there, even though it was only 6:20 p.m. Most of them were chatting excitedly about (Link inferred) the Hyrule Tournament.

"Well, I should better hurry up," Link said, running away from his friends in the direction of the staircase located at the opposite side of the hall, "I'll meet you soon!"

"Okay!" yelled back Baito, Shane, Linda and Hena in unison.

"Save me a seat!" Link added as he crossed the sophomore's and senior's table. Both of them were already almost full.

He climbed upstairs quickly, and soon the Dinning Hall was out of sight. He raced through the semi-deserted corridor, and occasionally one or two students passed beside him in the opposite direction, all of them going to the Dinning Hall. He turned left, right, left, left again… soon enough he was already standing before an enormous painting displaying an old-looking Hyrule Castle of about sixty years ago. Link confidently walked towards the painting, and he felt the usual sensation of cold water when he passed through it. He continued along a dark, narrow corridor with torches in the walls dimly illuminating the passage. Link quickly grabbed a silver key from his pockets and inserted it in the keyhole of the door at the end of the corridor. He pushed the door open and the well-illuminated junior's common room welcomed him. As he guessed, no one was there.

Link quickly climbed the staircase at the left (which was the one that led to the guys' dormitories). He walked along the corridor and passed many doors until he finally entered one that was almost at the very end of it. Link was not surprised that Shane's bed was a mess, as it was a common sight everyday. Link shared his room with Baito and Shane. He hurried to look for some clothes in the wardrobe located next to his bed. Link didn't hesitate a second deciding which clothes to use and grabbed the first set of clothes he found and a towel, and put them inside his bag.

Once outside the fake painting and his clean clothes safely in his bag, Link stopped in his tracks to meditate which bathroom was the closest. He quickly remembered that there was a bathroom beside the Potion Classroom in the upper floor. Link hurried towards the staircase at the end of the corridor and swiftly climbed it. As he made his way to the bathroom, Link glanced at the clock imported from Termina on the wall: 6:36 a.m. He still had time. He was sure that the corridor was absolutely deserted, and his fast-paced footsteps echoed on the walls loudly.

This bathroom was one, if not the biggest of the castle. In the very middle of the room were several sinks arranged in a circular manner, with a hexagonal mirror that reached the ceiling in the center of them. At Link's right side were several toilets and urinals. On the other side, several rows of shower stalls were lined up.

Link started walking to the left side of the bathroom, with the bag over his shoulder. He wasn't expecting to see anybody there, but a guy stripped to the waist was bending over and rummaging through a bag's contents in front of one shower stall. Judging his wet blond hair, Link inferred he just came out of the shower. Noticing Link's presence, the guy looked up at him with penetrating red eyes and, after staring at him for a full second with disgust, he returned his attention back to the bag.

Link ignored the hatred look he gave him and proceeded to take off his boots. Meanwhile, the guy closed his bag tightly and recovered full height with a shirt in his hands. Link was surprised at how tall he was. He considered himself as a tall person, but this guy was enormous. The fact that his body was built in a way similar to Baito's didn't help him look less intimidating to Link.

"Why you're not at the Dinning Hall like everyone else, you, stupid Hylian?" the guy said with deep, calm voice, not looking at him but at the shirt in his hands.

"What's your problem?" snorted Link indignantly, frowning at the guy.

"My problem is you and your race," the guy replied, his voice showing traces of anger, "We, the Sheikah, have always been like slaves to you, always looking at us as inferior beings."

"That's not true!" yelled Link angrily taking a step forward. The Sheikah was taller and far stronger than him, but he wasn't scared at all.

"Thankfully we're no longer your servants nowadays," the guy said before putting the shirt over his head, proceeding to pull it down. The shirt displayed the characteristic Sheikah symbol, "And in this tournament, I'm going to prove all of you that we're better."

"I would like to see you try," replied Link angrily, hurrying to take off his own clothes. He knew that he shouldn't waste any time as the selections would start soon, but this arrogant Sheikah was getting on his nerves.

"I better leave now, or I'll miss the moment where I'm selected as my school's champion," the Sheikah said arrogantly, putting his bag over his shoulder and _accidentally_ hitting Link's bare shoulder with his knee as he passed besides him. At first Link planned on returning him the kick, but given the facts that he was sitting down on the floor while he was standing and on a better position for hurting him, he decided that it would be a stupid thing to do.

Link took a shower in less than five minutes, and he was glad that he wasn't filthy and smelly anymore. He proceeded to wrap the white towel he hung over the shower stall's door around his waist, and exited the shower stall afterwards. He scanned the floor looking for his bag containing his dirty and clean clothes but… it wasn't there. Panic started growing exponentially inside him as he looked frantically for his bag around the bathroom. He searched practically everywhere, but he couldn't find it. He reached one and only possible conclusion: the Sheikah guy had taken his clothes on purpose just to annoy him. He was so pissed right now, and he planned to deal with him later. But he had to solve this problem first. Link paced in circles barefoot around the bathroom, thinking what his options were. Maybe he could sneak at top speed back to his dormitory and grab a new set of clothes. He would die of embarrassment if someone saw him on his way to the junior's common room, though. It was still a story below from where he was. He decided there was no other choice and, thankfully, everyone would be at the Dinning Hall right now so the corridors would be deserted. Mustering all the confidence he had left, he grabbed the doorknob.

"At least I'm wearing a towel," he comforted himself, sighing heavily.

* * *

"Where the hell is Link?" asked Shane to his friends, looking at the junior's table. There was no sight of him.

"He should hurry, or he'll miss the selection," said Linda worriedly.

Professor Rauru stood up from his seat, and silence fell over the Dinning Hall. The students were looking eagerly at him, dying of excitement. Professor Rauru cleared his throat and proceeded to talk.

"Good evening to all of you," he said, "As you know, tonight we're selecting the school champions, the very five champions that will compete in the tournament's tasks for fifty-thousand rupees!"

There was an excited applause from practically everyone, even from the teachers. Professor Rauru continued with his speech once the clapping died.

"You had five days to put a piece of paper with your name and school name written on it in the Hyrule Chalice, and I hope all of you willing to participate did so. Now, the chalice is ready to select the five champions."

Please, Link, hurry up…" muttered Linda under her breath.

* * *

Link was descending the staircase that led to the floor below. Luckily, he hadn't encountered anyone for now. He couldn't run too fast or he risked that his towel would come off in any second due to the vigorous movement. He was able to see the painting of the Hyrule Castle from twenty meters now; he was so close…

"MR. ADONIS! What do you think you're doing!" yelled a female voice behind Link. He stopped dead in his tracks, and closed his eyes in disbelief. "I'm doomed…" he thought.

He turned just to see Mrs. Anju, the school's nurse, half-running toward him, an angry expression displayed in her face. When she finally reached Link, she noticed he was only wearing a towel, and her cheeks flushed immediately.

"Explain yourself!" was all what a shocked Mrs. Anju managed to say, not looking at him in the face but a bit lower.

"I was taking a bath and when I came out my clothes were gone!" recited Link at top speed, also flushing as Mrs. Anju kept looking at his body, "I swear is the truth!"

"That's the worst excuse I have ever heard!" she snorted indignantly, "And if what you say is true, who's the one who stole your clothes, then?"

"I think it was one of the Sheikah students," Link replied honestly, "I saw him there before I took the shower."

"Oh, yea, right! Blame the foreign students, Mr. Adonis!" said Mrs. Anju looking angry, "That's it! One week of detention for showing indecent exposure of nudity in the hallways!"

"I'm not nude!" protested Link, his face becoming redder and redder.

"I hardly call a towel 'clothes', Mr. Adonis," she said decisively, walking away from him, "And the champion selection already started, so I recommend you to go there this instant."

"… but first put on some clothes," she added before disappearing in the corner.

Link felt both, embarrassed and angry at the same time, but he hurried towards the painting to get this over. The awkward sensation felt when walking through the painting felt twice as cold when not wearing clothes. Link hurried along the dark corridor, his bare feet hurting as he stepped on the floor made of stones. When standing before the door that led to his destination, his whole body froze. "The key…" he muttered. How on earth he was planning to enter the common room without the damn key?


	3. The Selection

Chapter 3: The Selection

"The school champion of the Gerudo Fortress is…" announced Rauru while he tried to read the poorly-written Hylian symbols on a piece of paper that had just floated to the surface of the Hylian Chalice. He immediately recognized the Gerudo calligraphy though, hence why he knew which school this champion would represent, whoever she was. "Miss Aveil Karzetnu!"

There was a big round of applause as the beautiful, tall Gerudo stood up from her seat and seemed to float her way to Rauru. Hena couldn't help noticing that some of her Gerudo companions looked disappointed, their faces looking dull and staring at her.

"It's her!" suddenly exclaimed Baito to his friends, "The girl that asked me for the Daro-something during the dinner."

"Hey, you're right!" exclaimed Shane, lifting himself from his seat to have a better look at her.

Hena, for some reason, looked annoyed.

* * *

Link kicked the door in frustration, forgetting the fact he was barefoot. He grabbed his left foot in pain, noticing that it had turned red due to the blow.

Link, limping, retraced his steps back to the corridor, feeling the freezing-cold shower as he crossed the fake painting again. He looked at the Terminan clock once more: 7:07 p.m. He still had time, or so he thought, as he had a hunch that his school's champion would be selected last. He glanced right and then left; the corridor was deserted once more. Suddenly he heard a voice from behind, making him do a small leap and immediately turn to the source.

"Link, why you're not at the Dinning Hall?" said Shad, adjusting his glasses with his left hand and holding a book in the other. When they were in focus, he was able to see Link's current state, "… And why you're not wearing clothes?"

Link stared at him. Was it that evident? Well, it would be stupid to think the opposite. "A prank; don't ask," He said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his bare chest, "… And why YOU are not at the Dinning Hall?"

"Well, I wanted to do some homework before the selection started, but I kind of got carried away." Shad explained, pleased to talk about homework, "But then I heard someone kicking the door, so I decided to check outside."

Link knew Shad was the strangest person he would ever meet in his life, but in that precise instant he felt really pleased to find him.

"Can we just get back inside the common room?" pleaded Link, "I need to make it in time for the selection."

"But it already started," Shad pointed out.

"I don't care, I'll go anyways but I need the damn key," said Link, starting to get desperate.

"But…" started Shad, but was immediately interrupted by Link.

"Oh, c'mon!" he urged, pushing him back to the fake painting. This wasn't a difficult task, with Link being overly strong and Shad being lanky and light as a feather. After feeling the cold shower once more, Link hurried Shad to the end of the dim corridor. He literally snatched the key from his hands and hastened to open the door. The warm and soothing heat of the common room's fireplace welcomed Link as soon as he entered. He climbed the staircase up to his dormitory, leaving Shad dumbfounded at the entrance of the common room. As soon as he entered it, he opened his wardrobe and grabbed the first set of clothes he found there. He threw the towel on top his bed and dressed in record time. Before exiting, he rummaged inside a drawer of his night table and grabbed his spare key, just in case. The young Hylian rushed back downstairs.

"Thanks a lot, Shad!" Link exclaimed at him as he passed by running towards the door while Shad was sitting comfortably on a couch near the fire reading his book, "I owe you one."

* * *

"Now, the moment I'm sure most of you were waiting for," said Rauru with a dramatic effect in his voice, "The Hyrule's Academy school champion, which is also the last."

The effect was immediate as all of Hyrule's Academy's students suddenly turned tense, each feeling a rising excitement inside. A small piece of paper had risen to the top of the Hylian Chalice and was floating innocently on its surface. Rauru slowly picked it up from the water and agitated it to dry it a bit, spattering accidentally a few drops on Captain Viscen's mail who stared at him with the corner of his eye, looking indignant.

"Finally, Hyrule's Academy is…" Rauru decided to add another pause for dramatic effect, much to the displeasure of his students who were on the edge of their chairs, "… Link Adonis!"

There was an exciting applause among the tables, especially those which had Hyrule's Academy's students at them. It had been by far the most scandalous clapping as Link was well-liked among his classmates and friends. However, it slowly died as they saw that no champion was coming to the front.

"Link, where the hell are you!" exclaimed Hena, maybe a bit too loud. The surrounding students made themselves the same question as their heads started turning in different directions looking for their champion.

"Link Adonis!" repeated Professor Rauru, a trace of embarrassment and anguish distinctive in his voice. He couldn't believe _his_ school champion was making him go through this.

"I'm right here, Professor!" cried out Link, coming out of nowhere and making his way to the old headmaster. He couldn't help noticing that his noisy footsteps were the only sound echoing in the Dinning Hall, while the entire school was staring at him. He noticed that the other school champions were already standing at the front. He was angry and shocked to see that the big Sheikah that had most probably stolen his clothes had been selected to represent his school. However, this was not the time to be mad at him, as he was more scared to know what Professor Rauru would say about his champion showing up late. Once he was standing before the headmaster, Link stood there waiting for him to say something. Professor Rauru didn't know if he should be displeased or happy, and stared at him. A faint clapping suddenly started in the Dinning Hall. Link turned to the source of the sound and smiled slightly as he saw Linda clapping enthusiastically at him back at the junior's table, looking nervous.

"C'mon, guys, help me!" Linda pleadingly muttered with the edge of her lips to her friends. Baito immediately followed by clapping too. A second afterwards, Shane and Hena joined them. Suddenly, the entire Dinning Hall was applauding at Link once more.

Link felt his cheeks reddening, and he turned his attention back to the headmaster.

"Oh, come here, boy" Professor Rauru finally said, embracing Link in his arms very strongly for an old man like him. After the headmaster let him go, Link hurried to stand beside the Deku Tree School's champion, a petite Kokiri girl with green hair.

"Great! So we have all of our champions now!" exclaimed Professor Rauru opening his arms wide. "These five young warriors will…"

"Why you showed up late?" asked curiously the green-haired Kokiri beside Link, turning her head up to look at him.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," responded Link grinning at her and as quiet as possible, as he didn't want Professor Rauru to hear him when he was giving his speech so heartedly at his side.

"Try me," the girl said, smiling.

"Let's just say that I was the way the goddesses delivered me a while ago, and I just couldn't show up like that," Link told her. She giggled hard, but immediately placed her hand in her mouth to minimize the noise.

"Saria! Would you shut up already?" hissed Mr. Mido who had crept unnoticed behind the girl and was holding her arm warningly. "Let the old man speak!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mido" Saria quickly responded to her headmaster, recovering her posture and facing the front. The redhead shortly returned with the rest of the headmasters as if nothing had happened.

"So Saria, eh?" Link muttered to her, smirking.

"Yea," the girl whispered, not looking at him but remaining her stare to the front.

"I'm Link, nice to meet you."

"Link knows we just saved his ass, right?" muttered Shane to his friends back at the junior's table.

"What are you babbling about?" scorned Hena, frowning at him "Linda saved his ass, not us."

"Are you serious? I cooperated in making everyone applaud again!" complained Shane.

"Yea, you were the fourth person to clap," stated Baito rolling his eyes, "Big deal."

Shane's mouth opened again ready to retort, however, it seemed that he didn't find anything good to say as he closed it again and returned his attention back to Professor Rauru.

"… so the first task is on November the 1st," continued Professor Rauru, "Champions will be shortly advised on what it consists while the rest of you will have to wait until the very day."

Several students giggled in the Dinning Hall. They couldn't believe Professor Rauru was so naïve to think that gossip wouldn't spread to the point that in less than a week every single student would know what the first task consisted of.

"Now, I'm sure most of you are hungry after all this champion-selecting," said Professor Rauru, "So without further ado…"

And so the food appeared magically on the tables, most of the students forgetting the champions standing at the front and drawing their attention to the fried Kargaroc or Deku Salad in front of them.

"Now please, Champions, follow us," said Professor Rauru in a quieter voice as he made his way to the door that was behind the headmaster's chair. He proceeded to enter the room behind the door followed by the other headmasters and finally by the five champions. The Sheikah champion swung the door behind him on purpose when Link and Saria were still outside.

"What's his problem!" called Saria indignantly.

"He's nuts," answered Link, opening the door again for Saria. After she walked in, Link followed her and closed the door gently behind him.

They were now in a small, cozy living room with some rusty chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and dimly illuminating it. Saria was eyeing it amazed by his side, and Link continued forward. He descended a few stairs covered in rug and placed himself in the middle of the room to have a better view. For some time, Link had wondered why teachers always entered this room every time they could. The sofas looked way more comfortable than the ones back at the common room. The mesmerizing fountain consisting of the three goddesses at the back of the room was the only sound in the room, splashing its water as it reached the basin. However, Link's favorite part was the dancing flames of the enormous hearth luring him to come closer, after all, his body was still stiff and cold due to the continuous freezing showers of the common room's painting.

"Okay, Champions, please have a seat," said Professor Rauru offering them the comfy sofas with a hand. Link hurried to take the sofa nearest to the fire. Once the rest of the Champions were seated, the headmasters gathered around and Professor Rauru cleared his throat once more.

"As you may already know, the first task has a forest thematic," confirmed Professor Rauru, receiving an acknowledging nod from the Champions, "We'll not tell you explicitly what the task consists of until the very day."

"What the… but you said a while ago that you were going to tell us the details!" exclaimed angrily the Sheikah champion bending forward from his sofa.

"Watch your mouth, Damatih!" warned dangerously Professor Impa to his student. "I'm sorry, Professor Rauru, please continue," she added, giving her attention back at the headmaster. Damatih retreated back to his seat and placed an elbow on the armrest, looking boringly at Professor Impa and then at Professor Rauru.

"Like I was saying, we won't tell you with exact words what the task consists of, however, we'll give you some useful advice," said Professor Rauru. The champions were now giving him their fullest attention, even Damatih. "I'll recommend you to practice your sense of direction and localization to the fullest, as it will come in handy during the task."

"So the task would be like a… maze?" asked Aveil, the Gerudo champion, with a heavy desert accent.

"Not necessarily, Miss Karzetnu," said Professor Rauru mysteriously, winking at her. Aveil remained confused at her spot at the sofa, and frowned at the headmaster as he continued, "I also suggest you to practice your swordsman skills and -in case you can perform magic- fire spells.

For magic-users, you can only use spells of Level 3 or under," he warned, "You are supervised at every moment during the task and if we catch any of you performing superior magic you'll be automatically disqualified from the task, okay?"

The Champions nodded heavily. Link didn't even have to worry about, as he couldn't perform magic anyway.

"Finally, I recommend you to take some bandages with you," suggested Professor Rauru. The Champions laughed, however Professor Rauru and the rest of the headmasters did not.

"I'm being serious, folks," stated Professor Rauru, "I'll be surprised if you finish the task with just a six-inch long slash."

The Champions interchanged looks of worry between them for the exception of Damatih, who remained relaxed in his seat with arms crossed over his chest. Link was dying to know what the task consisted of, and moved uncomfortably in his spot.

"So, off you go!" exclaimed Professor Rauru to the Champions, "I'm sure your friends want to congratulate you as well!"

The Champions stood from their seats and proceeded to make their way to the door. The Termina champion, a slim, brown-haired guy wearing baggy shorts, had his hand in the doorknob when Professor Rauru suddenly called them again.

"Wait! I forgot something," the old headmaster spoke up, causing the Champions to turn around, "Here…" he said, taking a few sheets of paper from a pocket inside his robes. "Here is the information I just said, along with some other useful things."

The Champions hurried to grab a sheet from Professor Rauru's hand and exited the room after thanking him. Link saw how the Champions headed off in different directions as soon as they entered the Dinning Hall, which already empty and silent. Link wondered where the foreign students were spending the night. The Termina champion hurried to climb the staircase to the left, which was parallel to the teacher's table. Aveil made her way gracefully to the stairs that led to the dungeons, curling her hair with a finger as she did so. Damatih, strangely enough, was walking down the hall to the entrance doors of the castle. Link had to resist urge to grab him by the neck and strangulate him. Saria spoke up by his side, causing him to flinch. He had been so focused staring at Damatih that he didn't notice that Saria was still standing right next to him.

"So… what do you think the first task will consist of?" she asked.

"I honestly have no idea…" replied Link sincerely. Saria was so short that he had to look down at her to have eye contact.

"Well, whatever it is, it will most likely be a piece of cake!" she said confidently, grinning at him.

"How can you be so sure?" questioned Link, looking confused.

"Well, I live in a forest after all, don't I?" she winked at him.

* * *

Link was reading the sheet of paper Professor Rauru had just gave them as he made his way to the common room.

_FOREST: FIRST TASK_

_Requirements:_

_1 Sword or Ax_

_1 Shield_

_1 Bow_

_15 Arrows_

_Bandages (as much as wanted)_

_1 Musical Instrument (you must be able to play the instrument well)_

_Rules:_

_Remember you are only allowed to use either a sword or an ax, not both._

_You're not allowed to carry any other sharp object or item that may be used as a physical weapon during the task (barring the arrows and sword)._

_You may recycle arrows. However, make sure that the arrows you pick up are yours; champions are not allowed to use arrows from other champions (or any other weapon that is not theirs)._

_Bandages can only be used to cover wounds; they must not be used for any other purpose._

_Magic-users are not allowed to use magic higher than level 3._

_Magic-users must not use healing spells._

_Carrying a compass is not allowed._

_You must not harm another Champion in any way._

_If any of these rules is broken, the Champion will be automatically disqualified from the task._

_Suggestions:_

_Make sure that your musical instrument works well; it may be crucial during the task._

_Practice your orientation skills._

_Travel light; get rid of unnecessary things._

_Mark your own arrows with something so that you're able to identify them as yours when recycling them. _

_The task takes place in November 1__st__ at 2p.m. Champions must meet Professor Rauru at the Dinning Hall before 1:20 p.m._

_Good luck, Champions!_

And then it finally hit him. Link read once again the bottom line, empathizing on one single word. "_Champions_…" he read, his eyes opening wide, "_Wait… Champions! _I'M the school champion!" Link couldn't believe that he had worried all this time about making it in time to the ceremony that he hadn't digested the fact that he had been selected, among a hundred students, to participate in the most famous tournament ever. He smiled to himself in satisfaction as he, literally, jumped his way to the painting. Even the cold shower's sensation felt pleasant to him this time.

Link winced as a roar of celebration erupted when he stepped a foot inside the common room. Baito and Shane were at the very entrance, pulling him by the shirt to the inside of the room. He felt several hands clapping his back as he was forced to stand on top of a table, where everybody could see him.

"To our champion!" Shane shouted, raising a transparent mug full of Lon-Lon Chateau to the air. Several other mugs erupted from the crowd of students as they started cheering again. Link merely stood there, smiling timidly but quite happy. Shane proceeded to drink his alcoholic beverage in a single shot, drops of Lon-Lon Chateau sliding across his neck. He pulled Link by the arm back to the floor and hugged him tightly.

"School champion!" he exclaimed, smiling broadly. "I always knew you were going to be selected!"

"Thanks!" Link replied as happy as him. However, he was standing steady, unlike his comrade. "Shane… how much have you drank tonight?"


	4. Ballad Gone Wrong

Chapter 4: Ballad Gone Wrong

"School champion," repeated Shane for the fifth time. He and Link were heading down the stairs to the Dinning Hall for breakfast the next morning after the selection. "School champion!"

"Shane, if you repeat that once more I swear I will…" but Link's voice was drowned as soon as they entered the Dinning Hall by cheers and greetings in his way. Several people clapped his back as he and Shane made his way to the junior's table. They sat in the seats between Sakon and Hena, with Linda and Baito sitting across the table in front of them.

"People are treating you like a god!" said Hena in amazement with a trace of jealousness in her voice.

"I don't think I deserve that kind of treatment," said Link modestly, grabbing a nearby fork and stabbing the chicken in front of him.

"Apparently some people think you do," said Linda, pointing with her index finger behind Link.

Link turned his head to see what she was talking about and his face came across two young girls, probably of freshman year, both holding a parchment and a quill in their hands.

"W-would you give me an autograph, Link?" one of the girls asked shyly. Shane wanted to laugh so hard that he started choking in his cereal. Sakon helped him by punching him in the back.

"I- err… sure, sure," said Link a bit stunned, grabbing one of the girl's quills.

"Why you sign hers first?" complained the girl as her friend's parchment was being signed by Link.

"Because it was closer?" replied Link innocently, punching Shane in the ribs with his free hand as he was chuckling hard.

After Link signed both of the girls' parchments, they left the junior's table displaying a satisfying face. Link returned his attention back to his chicken, and attempted to ignore the playful stares their friends were giving him. Wednesday was always a good day for Link. First class after breakfast was Music, by far his favorite subject… after Swordsmanship of course. It wasn't the subject itself what made the class interesting, but it was the young and energetic Zora they had for a teacher, Professor Mikau, who made the class cool. He was a retired guitarist of the famous Terminan band The Indigo-Go's, which was well-known among all the Hyrule's Academy students… well, maybe except for Shad. Their first hit "The Ballad of the Windfish", aired when Professor Mikau was still a member of the band, still sounded from time to time inside the school's walls. Students practically idolized him, and Mikau always asked them to refer to him as "Mikau" and not "Professor Mikau", as the later made him feel old. Link took a mental note of asking him at the end of the class if he knew what was required for the first task, referring to the "You must be able to play the instrument well" point.

"Oh, brave Link, would you give me an autograph, pleeease?" said Shane teasingly to Link imitating the freshman girl's voice and clapping his hands together in a pleadingly manner.

"Ha-ha-ha, so funny, Shane," said Link laughing sarcastically as his friends burst in laughter. "Hey, it's already time for class isn't it?"

"Oh my goddess, you're right!" exclaimed Linda looking alarmingly at the big clock above the teacher's room's door. She jumped out of her seat, hastily grabbed her backpack and headed off towards the staircase.

"What's her problem?" asked Baito half-laughing with an eyebrow raised, "We still got fifteen minutes."

"Yea, but her History of Hyrule classroom is at the other side of the castle," reminded Hena, eating the last slices of bacon.

"God, you're right!" suddenly exclaimed Shane, standing up, "I have class with her!"

"Hurry up, then!" said Baito, "Have a nice, boring class session with Professor Auru, just remember to avoid falling asleep this time!"

"It just happened once!" Shane defended himself as his friends chuckled, putting his backpack over his shoulder. "Well, maybe twice…"

"Hey, the old man is cool," said Hena, "Is not his fault that the subject itself is so boring."

"He's still not as cool as Mikau," Link pointed out.

"Well, I should get going," said Shane, for some reason rummaging inside his pockets and then staring at the bald student who was previously sitting beside him, "Sakon, did you just steal my wallet AGAIN?"

* * *

So Shane had to chase down Sakon around the Dinning Hall as students stared and laughed at them as they passed by. He finally managed to recover his wallet; it was the third time this month. The immigrant Terminan bald boy had some issues with himself.

Baito, Link and Hena laughed all the way to the third floor of what just happened. Once they were yards away from the door of the classroom, they heard some metal music coming from the inside. Link guessed Mikau was having a jam session with Grog. Grog, in Link's opinion, was the strangest student in the Academy, possibly even more than Shad. He only talked to Mikau, as he said the Zora was the only one that shared his passion for his type of music. In the corridors he was always alone, head down. He had a mohawk hairstyle hair and (by far his strangest quality) he refused to wear a shirt even during classes, showing his skeletal, pale body and tattoos to everyone. The only thing Link knew about him is that he used to work in a ranch of cuccos in Termina and he suffered a trauma of some kind there.

As Baito opened the door wide, Link saw that his prediction was right. The tall, light-blue-colored Zora (the color barely seen though, as his entire body was covered with tattoos of all kinds) sat on top of his desk, playing his trademark guitar made of the skeleton of a fish. Similarly, the anorexic Grog sat on top of a student desk in front of Mikau, playing the bass. When Link closed the door behind him, Mikau stopped playing the guitar and became aware of their presence.

"Yo, Link, Hena and Baito!" the Zora said energetically, "What's up?"

The trio came closer to greet Mikau with their unique handshake, making their way through the rows of desks. Link noticed Grog was rather annoyed that they had interrupted their jam session, and merely ignored them and sat back on his chair. Students started arriving and slowly filled the classroom. When Mikau noticed that all the students were already inside, he whistled in a high-pitched tone in order to direct everyone's attention to him. The chatty students fell silent and stared at their tattooed teacher.

"Okay, guys, so today we're going to continue practicing the Sonata of Awakening," indicated Mikau, "Over there are cages with a Gel inside each," he pointed at the other side of the classroom, were two dozens of small cages displayed gelatinous, blue-greenish balls inside their bars, "They are far harder to wake up than what you had attempted before, but the job's a piece of cake, nonetheless. Once you show me your Gel jumping up and down inside its cage, you may help your classmates. If you are too lazy to do so, well, just do whatever you want as long as you don't leave the classroom. Off you go!"

Everyone stood up immediately and headed toward the corner where the cages were, leaving their instruments on top of their desks. Link thought it was so cool that everyone could choose whichever instrument they pleased. They ranged from the most common, harps, flutes and guitars, to the strangest, pipes, saxophones, violins and basses. Link, of course, played the ocarina. Rusl had given it to him as a present in his thirteenth birthday.

"Do you know the notes of the song?" Baito asked Link as he sat on a desk beside him, placing his cage with the Gel inside on top of it.

"Yes…" answered Link, rummaging inside his school bag for his notebook, "There," he said, handing Baito his open notebook on the page where he had written the song's notes. "I have memorized it; you can return it to me by the end of the class."

"Awesome," said Baito, taking out his light-brown guitar and staring at the blue-greenish mass in front him with an eyebrow raised, "Man, these things sure are disgusting."

"There's no need to mention it," agreed Hena who was sitting right behind him, sticking out her tongue in disgust and pushing the cage away from her.

"C'mon, guys, it's just a damn Gel!" exclaimed Link, chuckling, "And they're not even awake!"

"For now," added Hena under her breath.

It took Link less than a quarter of an hour to wake up his Gel, successfully doing it in his fourth attempt. Baito and Hena were not as lucky, though. Link hurried to show Mikau his Gel jumping up and down inside its cage, making angry sounds of being waken up. After the Zora congratulated him for being the second in doing so (the first one had been Grog), Link headed back to his desk and helped his friends.

"Err, Hena, why does your Gel look bigger than it should be?" Link asked her as he couldn't help noticing the enlarged size of the ball of mucus.

"I don't know! It suddenly started swelling!" she panicked, shaking the cage savagely with her hands in an attempt to manually wake up the Gel. "Wake up, you stupid thing!"

"Hena, stop!" ordered Link quite alarmed, holding her hand with his to stop her from moving the cage, "Relax! Okay, let me see you play and see what's wrong."

"Okay then…" accepted a more relaxed Hena, taking a deep breath and picking up her violin from the floor. She leaned forward to approach her Gel and started playing. Link had to lean closer too in order to hear her violin, as the uproar caused by the blended musical instruments played by his classmates made it hard to do so. He tentatively listened to her melody and after analyzing it he discovered which the problem was.

"You're playing it wrong…" he told her as innocently as he could, as he didn't want her to leave him with a black eye, "It should be Si, Sol, Si, Sol… not Si, Mi, Si, Mi…"

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed Hena looking shocked at Link, blood slowly flowing to her face. She was so focused staring at him that she didn't notice her bow had tangled with the strings of the violin. She let go of it and the strings pushed the bow forward, sending a flying projectile across the classroom and hitting Nayru on the head.

When the class was over and Mikau dismissed them, Link pretended to arrange his bag's insides as his classmates one by one exited the classroom. He had already told Baito and Hena that he wanted to ask Mikau something by the end of the class, so they left without questioning him. Link raised his head and noticed that all of the students had left for the exception of Grog, who was vividly chatting with Mikau. Link knew that he didn't plan to end their chat soon, so he decided to act.

"Mikau, can I have a word with you?" he asked as he approached his desk, leaving his backpack on the floor, "In private," he added as he noticed Mikau was waiting for him to speak.

"Sure, Link," Mikau answered, turning his attention to Grog, "Dude, could you leave the classroom just for a sec'?"

Grog didn't answer, but he merely gave Link a deadly stare and stood up from his desk. He swiftly packed his things and left the classroom at a slow pace. When he closed the door behind him, Link returned his attention back to Mikau.

"Why do I have this feeling that he will try to kill me tonight?" he asked, half-joking, half-serious. Mikau chuckled hard.

"Easy, Link, he wouldn't hurt a fly, despite what everybody else thinks," he assured him, "So what you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, last night Professor Rauru gave us this piece of paper with recommendations about the first task…" Link started saying before being interrupted by Mikau.

"Oh, you're right, lucky dog!" exclaimed Mikau, clapping his shoulder hard, "Congratulations for being selected as our school champion!"

"Yea, thanks," replied Link with a smile, having heard similar words all morning, "And, well, somewhere in the list says that I need to be able to play an instrument well. I was wondering if you knew how good I need to play, or what kind of music I must be able to play or what?"

"Mmm… to be honest, Link, the only ones that know the details about the tournament are the headmasters," Mikau told him, causing Link to lose hope, "But," he added, causing Link to lift his spirits again, "I guess I know why they are asking you to be able to play an instrument well."

"You do?" asked Link surprised, giving Mikau his fullest attention.

"You see, instruments throughout history have been used in this tournament in case that the champions are in danger," explained Mikau.

"How come?" asked Link completely clueless.

"Well, let's say, for example, that the champions are inside a maze," explained Mikau, making Link remember that the Gerudo champion had indeed asked if the first task would be a maze, "If a champion is in danger and wants to retire, he may simple play a song, telling the judges beforehand which song, so that they could send someone to rescue the champion by following the sound of its melody and be able to find them."

"Oh, I get it know," Link said, understanding what Mikau just said, "So, any song I know would do?"

"Yes, though I would like to give you some recommendations, man," said Mikau, "Be sure that the song has no magical powers whatsoever, unlike the Sonata of Awakening, as you don't want your surroundings to change especially if you're in danger, cachas?" Link nodded heavily, "Also, make sure that the song is an easy one that doesn't require a lot of finger movements or that has a fast beat, because if your hand is injured you won't be able to move them a lot."

"Man, those are good things to know!" thanked Link, doing that peculiar handshake with Mikau again, "Thank you very much!"

"Anytime!" yelled Mikau as Link was making his way to the exit door, "And tell Grog that he can come in now!" he added as Link picked up his backpack from the floor, "I know he's waiting outside the door."

* * *

Next morning, Link woke up with a smile on his face as he knew that he wasn't completely lost in the task that would be taking place in two weeks. Something Shane told him a bit afterwards made him even happier.

"Link, lazy bastard, wake up already!" exclaimed Shane, as he pulled Link's blankets off him. "… Why are you smiling?" he asked with eyebrow raised, "Been having a good dream?"

"No, is not that," he answered him followed by a yawn, standing up from his bed and heading toward his wardrobe.

"Well, guess what?" Shane asked him with a trace of excitement in his voice.

"What?" asked Link boringly as he put on his shirt, expecting a lame response.

"We're having our first trip to Kakariko Village this weekend!"

"Awesome!" exclaimed Link, which were indeed good news, "I've been missing that small village lately!"

"Me too!" said Shane, "They placed the announcement this morning."

"By the way, what time is it?" asked Link, as he knew that Shane just came from the common room and that he must have seen the clock. "Did I miss breakfast?"

"No, it's 6 A.M." replied Shane calmly.

"Ha, ha, nice one," said Link, putting on his left boot, "If that's true, then why Baito is not here?"

"He always jogs around the school grounds at these hours," reminded Shane, "He's absolutely nuts."

"Yes, he totally is… Wait," said Link as he paused tying his shoelaces and stared madly at Shane, realizing the facts, "So it's indeed 6 A.M.!"

"Yes, I just told you," said Shane rolling his eyes.

"Then why were you calling me lazy! Our first class starts in four freaking hours!" yelled Link furiously, throwing himself back to bed.

"Well, yea… that," said Shane rolling his eyes again and pretending to sound casual, "Well, I guess I was just excited about the news that I overreacted, sorry. I saw the announcement in my way to the bathroom."

"Those are good news, actually," said Link comprehensively, "But I'll sleep a few more hours like every other NORMAL student."

* * *

"I don't know why you guys are all excited," Linda told his friends as they were descending the hill's path that led to Kakariko Village, being escorted by Professor Medli at the front. "We just came here two weeks ago when we were looking for the Poes."

"Yea, but that was definitely not a pretty experience," Hena pointed out, "Plus, we only saw that ugly cemetery."

"Can't wait to have a drink at the Milk Bar," said Baito enthusiastically, kicking a small rock that was on the road.

"Thinking about alcoholic beverages already, huh?" asked Hena skeptically, "I still can't get it how a guy like you that cares a lot of his body image likes to drink."

"Hey, drinking once in a while is not that bad, right?" asked Baito as if the answer was obvious. Hena merely rolled her eyes.

"Remember the time Malon got drunk?" reminded Shane, chuckling hard, "She was dancing like crazy on top of the counter with the old bartender!"

"That was freaking hilarious!" exclaimed Hena before joining their friends in a scandalous laughter.

"Would you shut up already?" barked an angry Professor Medli from the front, "Or do you want me to take you back to the castle?"

"Sorry, Professor!" exclaimed Link, still half-laughing.

"Oh, leave the poor girl alone," Linda defended her in a whisper after she couldn't help but laugh too, "She used to drink a lot of milk back at Lon Lon Ranch."

"Why are you whispering?" Shane asked her.

"She's right there, idiot!" Linda whispered back, pointing the back of a redhead girl walking a few yards ahead of them beside Agitha.

Link noticed that the students walking in front of them abruptly stopped and the students from behind joined the crowd gathered around Medli standing in front of the gate that led to Kakariko Village.

"So, remember the rules," she said in an authority tone, "You must return back to the castle at maximum 9:30 P.M. No exceptions, all right, Mr. Hermes?"

"It just happened once!" cried Shane before the crowd of students started chuckling.

"Also, if I catch any freshman student here," she said, eyeing the crowd of students with her flaring red yes, "Let's just say that I'll make your life impossible."

"And she means it," Baito whispered in Link's ear, "Poor brat if he thinks he can escape from Medli's claws."

Link tried hard to avoid chuckling hard as the Hylian soldier opened the gate for them. As soon as the metal bars were out of their way, the students hurried forward, drowning an angry Professor Medli who stood in the middle. The cluster of students quickly dispersed as soon as they were beyond the gate, separating into small groups of friends.

"The soldier was totally checking you out," Link heard Din gossiping to Zelda, whose group of friends was walking beside Link's.

"Was he?" asked Zelda distractingly, "I didn't really notice."

Link secretly thanked the goddesses that she hadn't paid him any attention. Link turned his head in her direction, just to see that she was staring back at him.

"Hey, Link!" she said happily, separating from her group of friends to greet him.

Link needed a full second to realize that the kingdom's princess was talking to him. He tried hard to change his dumbfounded face with a smiling one.

"Hi, Zelda!" greeted Link, taking a step closer. Link couldn't help noticing with the corner of his eye that his friends were quite stunned that she had talked to him as well, "How are you?"

"Doing fine," she replied. Link noticed that she began getting nervous as well, as her friends had fell silent and were eavesdropping their conversation, "By the way, congratulations for being chosen as our school champion!" she added, displaying her even, white teeth in a smile.

"Thanks!" replied Link with shaky voice and feeling his cheeks burning. Thankfully, Farore interrupted the tense moment.

"So, Baito, you're totally coming to my party, right?" she asked flirtingly and stepping forward, staring at Link's friend.

"Oh, yea," answered Baito, lacking enthusiasm and avoiding eye contact, "Tonight at the Milk Bar, right?"

"That's right," said Farore giggling.

"Please, Link, why don't you come too?" asked Zelda clapping her hands pleadingly, "You can bring your friends," she added, as she noticed Linda staring at her angrily in an obvious manner.

"Sure, why not," answered Link grinning at her.

"Here are the invitations," she said, grabbing Link's hand and leaving four rectangular pieces of paper with her free one, "You'll need them to enter the bar."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Link, still feeling the warmth of her hand after she let go of it.

"See you there, then," said Zelda as she continued smiling.

Before Link could respond, Zelda had already turned her back to him and had started walking away with her friends.

"Bye, Baito!" yelled Farore as she waved at him enthusiastically walking in reverse to keep up with her friends' pace.

"Bye…" said Baito weakly, making a huge effort to smile.

"Oh, so now Miss Royalty starts noticing Link now that he's school champion," said Linda rolling her eyes when she was sure Zelda and her friends were out of earshot, a trace of annoyance in her voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Link indignantly, "In case you didn't know, I met her BEFORE I became school champion!"

"Yea, whatever," replied Linda furiously, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at the floor.

"So you were planning to go to her party without telling us, you, dog!" exclaimed Shane to Baito, punching him in the arm.

"I didn't want to go, actually," said Baito sincerely, taking out the invitation Farore had given him a few days ago from his pocket and examining it in his hands, "Farore's really getting on my nerves…"

"What she has done to you?" asked Hena hopefully.

"She's so annoying, following me like a stalker," answered Baito, shrugging his shoulders just by thinking about it, "But I guess I'll go, as Link looks like he wants to."

The four friends stared at Link, causing him to feel intimidated. They were now walking between the village's houses and stores, students shopping here and there.

"Well, it might be fun, right?" excused Link, pretending to sound casual while deep inside he felt really excited.

"Why do we need an invitation to enter the bar as if she owned the place in first place?" asked Hena, reading the invitation that she took from Baito's hand.

"She rented the place for her birthday," explained Baito, "Only people with invitation are allowed to enter it after 6 P.M."

"I say we should go," said Shane excitedly, "C'mon guys, it'll be fun!"

"Yes, count me in," finally agreed Hena. Baito, Link, Shane and Hena looked at Linda pleadingly.

"Fine," she snorted. Her friends beamed.

"Well, we have a lot of time to kill before the party," Baito pointed out, "I suggest we go somewhere else in the meantime."

"I need some ingredients for my potions," said Linda, pointing a red building ahead of them with escaping fumes from its chimney.

"Still into advanced potion-making?" asked Shane skeptical.

"Hey, it's good to practice doing potions before we see them in class!" the blue-haired defended herself.

"Actually, I also want to buy some red potions," said Link, remembering the first task and staring at Shane and Baito, "We'll need a few of them during our practice sessions of swordsmanship."

"It's pointless for all of us to go inside that cramped place," Hena pointed out, stopping at the front door of the building, "Why don't you two go and buy your stuff and we wait for you at McKakariko's?"

"Okay, fine," agreed Link as Baito, Hena and Shane walked away from them, "Save us a seat!"

"_Obviously_," yelled Hena back as a matter of fact.

"Hold your breath, Linda," Link suggested as he opened the door of the Potion Shop for her. Despite she had a grim expression since Zelda's encounter, she couldn't resist laughing before getting inside.

The gloomy store welcomed them with strong odors of all kinds emanating from the diverse potion cauldrons placed at either side of the counter in the back. An old hag was soundly asleep, using her arms as a pillow on top of the counter.

"She always does that," Linda whispered to Link smiling.

Link laughed as they approached the counter, the floor making cracking sounds under their feet. They weren't loud enough to wake her up, though.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am?" asked Link in a tender voice, speaking very close to her ear.

There was no response. The gray-haired woman with peculiar, dark green skin color remained asleep. Link even noticed that she was snoring heavily as she breathed out, a sound he didn't hear before as the cracking floor had drowned it.

"You won't wake her up," uttered Linda frankly to Link. She sat on top of a wooden box that was on the floor, bending forward and placing her arms over her knees, "There's nothing else to do but wait."

"I guess you are right," admitted Link, dragging a similar wooden box that was behind him and drawing it closer to her before sitting down on it.

"So, Link, you have been preparing yourself for the first task, right?" she asked.

"To be honest, no, I haven't," replied Link shamefully.

"I hope you don't disappoint our school," she said, more like a threat than a statement, "You are very lucky for being selected, you know that?"

"Why is that so?" asked Link, frowning.

"I did some research about the tournament," she explained to him, "You're the second student from junior year to be chosen to participate in the tournament ever!"

"The other ones, all of them have been of senior year," Linda said, raising both eyebrows in way that expressed amazement.

"Are you serious?" exclaimed Link surprised, "Who was the first one?"

"He was a student from our academy too, about one hundred years ago," she told him, "I don't remember his name, but he was presumably a descendant of the Hero of Time."

"How awesome!" exclaimed Link, "Maybe I'm a descendant of the Hero of Time too," he joked.

"Yea, right," said Linda rolling her eyes, chuckling.

"But seriously, Link," she continued in a more serious tone, "People have died in this tournament."

"Yes, I know…" uttered Link with a straight face, "Shad mentioned it to me."

"And that's why I want you to prepare yourself well for this tournament," said Linda, hesitatingly half-grabbing Link's elbow, "I don't want to see you getting hurt."

"Don't worry, that's why I have the world's best friends to help me," replied Link smiling, emphasizing the word "friends" and grabbing her shoulder.

After they let go of each other, they remained silent for quite a while, the only sound coming from the old hag's snoring. Linda was staring at the floor, an empty expression on her face, submerged in her thoughts. Link knew that something else was bothering her, and it had nothing to do with the tournament.

"So when did you meet Zelda?" Linda suddenly asked him in a forcedly casual way, returning her stare back at him.

"Oh…" said Link blankly, stunned by the sudden question, "I met her when we were looking for some Poes in the cemetery."

"How?" she asked, deeply interested.

"Well, Hena got tired of walking because of her supposedly tiring P.E. class session so she rested under a tree while I continued to look for the Poe," Link explained, uneasy about the whole subject, "And I just came across her in the mist, and… well, we just started talking."

"Oh, nice," said Linda, her tone expressing the opposite feeling.

"Yea…" uttered Link lowly, staring at the floor.

"…Do you like her?" she asked him.

Link lifted his head to look at her. She was looking at him in a way Link had never seen before. Her eyes displayed pain and sorrow.

"Well, I…" started saying Link before being interrupted by a harsh, weird sound coming from the counter.

Both stared in the direction of the sound, just to see the old woman yawning heavily and stretching her hands upward behind the counter. After she finished, she looked at the pair of them with half-closed eyes.

"Woo... whooot?" she said drowsily before realizing that she had costumers, "Oh, welcome to Koume's Potion Shop, the best and only potion shop around!"

* * *

"What took you so long?" asked Hena looking suspiciously at Link and Linda when they arrived to their table in McKakariko's and were leaving the bags they held in their hands carefully on the floor.

Linda and Link had remained quiet during their way from Koume's Potion Shop to the restaurant, still tense about the weird moment they had a while ago. Linda refused to respond to Hena, and she sat on the chair beside her silently.

"The witch was asleep when we arrived," explained Link, looking worryingly at Linda with the corner of his eye as he sat between Shane and Baito, "We had to wait until she finally woke up."

"Talk about some bad luck," said Baito shaking his head, playing with the small parasol of his drink with one finger, "Did you guys find what you were looking for?"

"Yea, everything's fine," said Link, when deep inside he knew things were not, "I bought enough red potions to heal all the wounds I'll inflict on you when we practice," he joked to Shane and Baito, planning to cheer himself up.

"Yea, right," said Shane laughing before eating a Gerudo fry from the dish in front of him, "We'll kick your ass and you know it."

"In your dreams!" exclaimed Link, his mood lifting back again.

"I'll go to the restroom," Linda said quietly, standing up from her chair and walking away before anyone could respond.

"Me too," said Hena quickly, leaving the guys alone in the table.

"Why chicks always have to travel in packs to the restroom?" asked Shane with an eyebrow raised, watching Hena catching up with Linda.

Link heard Baito answering him, but he wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. He was thinking hard of what just happened, staring down at the table blankly. So Linda had a crush on him? Yes, that was the only possible answer Link could find. Why would she care too much for what he thought about Zelda otherwise? Link had never considered her as something more than a friend, not even when they first met in freshman year. Would there be another reason for her weird behavior?

"Link, Link, hello? Are you there?" said Shane, snapping his fingers in front of him.

"Yes, yes… what were you saying?" asked Link distractingly.

"I asked you if you have been practicing your skills as an archer," repeated Shane.

"Not really…" Link answered quietly.

"Man, you sure need to take this thing seriously!" exclaimed Baito looking serious.

"Yea, I know, I know!" said Link really stressed out, "I promise I'll start getting serious next week."

"We'll practice really hard," assured Shane to Link before his gaze changed in Hena's direction, who was walking back to their table, alone.

"Listen guys, Linda and I are going to take a walk," she informed them when she arrived, "We'll meet you at Farore's party, okay?"

"O-okay?" responded Baito, frowning.

"The truth is that this place grosses us out," she invented, "This food is SO heavy!"

"Girls and their dieting," said Shane rolling his eyes, not suspecting that something wrong was happening.

"See you there, then," said Hena, giving Link a particular stare before she headed off toward the exit door. Link inferred Linda was already outside.

"What's with them?" asked Baito curiously, first staring at Shane and then at Link.

"Dunno," said Shane clueless, "You know how weird they can be sometimes."

Link was debating inside his mind if he should tell them what just happened. He concluded that it was too soon to make speculations of what the reason might be of her weird behavior, so he decided to keep it as a secret, for now.

* * *

The guys spent another hour at McKakariko's, mainly talking about the tournament and the first task, giving Link a good distraction away from Linda. After leaving with satisfied stomachs, they decided to explore the village and visit some stores. Shane and Baito accompanied Link to the Bazaar to buy the bandages he would need for the first task. After that, they went to the Shooting Gallery so that Link could practice his archery skills. Despite he was given the most beaten bow out of the three, Link showed his two friends why he was chosen to represent their school. He shot the ten targets with perfect accuracy, while Shane only managed to hit eight and Baito seven. Link won himself a black, leather quiver to his amazement. When there was only one hour left to kill, they decided to go to their favorite, secret spot: the windmill.

Standing on top of a high hill, the windmill overlooked the whole village. At the back of the towering structure, a long, wooden ladder led to their secret spot, where a beautiful view of the village could be seen. Shane had already his left foot on the first rung when he noticed Link was looking at him hesitatingly.

"What's the prob?" he asked looking at him.

"I can't climb up with all of this stuff," uttered Link, showing him the two bags held on his right hand and the quiver on his left hand.

"Why don't you tell the Guru-Guru to keep them for ya?" suggested Baito, crossing his arms, "You can come back for them after the party, as they could be a nuisance there too."

"You're right," agreed Link, turning his back to them and running around the circumference of the building, "I'll be back in a sec'!"

"Okay!" yelled Shane who was already standing on the fifth rung, his arms firmly grabbing the ladder, "We'll wait for you at the top!"

"And don't make him mad!" shouted Baito, cupping his hand in front of his mouth to direct his voice, "You know he has such a shaky temper!"

Link was finally facing the door that led to the windmill hut. He grabbed and turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. The rotating, wooden wheel on the floor that caused the windmill outside to spin with a column that protunded from the middle was the first thing Link saw when he entered it. The barefoot windmill man sat on his usual spot, happily playing his phonograph. Link had always hated the sound of that thing.

"Hello, Guru-Guru!" greeted Link, taking a step closer. Because there was no other way to reach his side, he had to board the rotating wheel and then step out of it just in time to come across him face to face.

"Hey, Link, how are you?" asked the middle-aged man as he fully stopped playing the phonograph, much to Link's pleasure, "You and your friends are at the usual spot, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are," confirmed Link, "Listen, Guru-Guru, I wanted to ask you a favor."

"Ask right away, my boy," said Guru-Guru, nodding.

"Can I leave these things here for a while?" he asked pleadingly, showing him the bags and the quiver, "I have a party in half and hour and I don't want to carry them around."

"Oh, sure, sure, leave them there," accepted the Guru-Guru, pointing somewhere on the floor.

"Thank you very much!" exclaimed Link thankfully.

"Anytime!" said Guru-Guru, with the same permanent smile he had on his face. Well, it sometimes changed into a diabolic one, and Link wanted to avoid that at all cost, deciding it was better to leave now before he screwed up.

"I'll come back for them in a few hours!" assured Link as he boarded the spinning platform again.

"Fine!" exclaimed Guru-Guru when Link had a hand on the doorknob before playing his phonograph again.

"Shane and Baito, stop making out, I'm coming!" joked Link as he was reaching the last stairs of the ladder.

"Ha, ha, ha," laughed Shane and Baito sarcastically in unison while Link stepped out of the ladder.

"I never get tired of this view," admitted Link as he saw Kakariko Village down below, sitting beside Shane.

"I know, me neither," said Shane before a running figure dashing between the buildings drew his attention, "Hey, isn't that the old hag that works at the Potion Shop?" he asked to Link and Baito, pointing the figure with his index finger.

"You're right!" confirmed Link, looking at her small running figure, now and then, peering over her shoulder. Link couldn't decide if she ran more comically than Dampé or not.

"She just came out of the House of Skulltula," informed Baito, tracing her route with his eyes.

"What do you think she was doing there?" asked Shane, freaked out.

"Dunno, crazy witch," answered Baito, shaking his head.

"She could barely stay awake a while ago, and now she's vividly running," said a confused Link, frowning at the old woman as she entered the building corresponding to her potion shop.

"Look, Link," said Baito to him, nudging his arm to get his attention, pointing the flaring sun hiding behind two distant hills in the horizon, "Always remember that the sun comes out from the east and hides in the west in Hyrule."

"Why would Link want to know that?" asked Shane, frowning at him and looking at Baito as if he were nuts.

"It might help him during the task," assured Baito to Shane, then turning back to Link, "You said that you needed to practice your sense of orientation right?"

"Yes, I did," confirmed Link, realizing how useful his tip really was, "Now I'll be able to know where every cardinal direction is! That's like carrying a mental compass everywhere!"

"That's right," confirmed Baito, too pleased with himself.

"Where did you learn that?" asked Shane jealously.

"Professor Shikashi mentioned it last night in Astronomy class," said Baito proudly.

"But you never put attention in Astronomy class!" Shane complained.

"You don't put attention in any class at all," Baito pointed out before laughing.

"Look, people are starting to arrive at Farore's party," informed Link to stop their argument, pointing the Milk Bar down below, right next to the Shooting Gallery, where people indeed were arriving in packs.

"Let's roll then," said Baito, standing up from the floor, quickly joined by Link and Shane.

* * *

"Let me see your invitations," ordered a mighty-looking Hylian soldier standing at the front of the Milk Bar, halting their pace. Shane, Link and Baito rummaged inside their pockets and showed him the green pastel piece of paper. He stepped aside to let them in.

The Milk Bar was popular for being the only local building to be underground. As soon as they entered it, a long, descending staircase welcomed them. Link peered over the railing of the stairs to see what was going on downstairs. The bar was really dim, illuminated only by flying Forest Fireflies swirling near the ceiling, close to where Link and his friends where. Link estimated thirty-five people were there, some students having drinks at the counter, others at the front of the stage watching a band's performance, and finally others dancing to the fast beat melody.

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Shane shocked when they where midway down the stairs, "They are the Indigo-Go's!"

"What?" exclaimed Baito surprised, looking at the stage. He saw that Shane was right, observing the dashingly beautiful Lulu wearing an elegant blue dress singing at the front of the stage.

Link couldn't help but laugh at his friend's gaping mouths. As they came closer to the floor, he noticed that a few Kokiri, Gerudo and Sheikah were there too; it seemed that Farore had already befriended some of the foreign students.

"Baito!" called a familiar voice from the crowd as soon as they stepped off the last stair.

"Oh, no…" muttered Baito under his breath before Farore appeared out of nowhere, grabbing his arm and forcefully dragging him to a group of friends.

"There's so many people I want you to meet," she said happily while Baito peered over his shoulder to stare pleadingly at Shane and Link.

"I feel sorry for him," said Shane honestly.

"Yes…" replied Link, "Why don't we go for a drink?"

"The school champion wants to drink?" asked Shane teasingly.

"C'mon, don't be so dramatic!" exclaimed Link rolling his eyes, "The Romani Shake has barely alcohol in it."

Link and Shane made their way through the crowd of students, now and then stopping to greet familiar faces. When they finally reached the counter, Link and Shane sat down on a pair of empty chairs in front of it. The chubby bartender approached them with a couple of empty mugs.

"What can I get for you, guys?" he asked, putting one mug on the counter and cleaning the other one with a piece of cloth.

"Piña Colada for me," said Shane quickly.

"I want a Romani Shake," indicated Link.

"Perfect, hang on while I prepare them," said the senile bartender as he looked among the hundreds of bottles he had on a shelf for the right ones.

"I finally found you," said a too familiar voice.

Link and Shane turned their heads in the direction of the voice just to find Hena standing behind them.

"Hey, how was your promenade?" asked Shane as Hena sat on a chair beside him.

"Good, I'd say," answered Hena expressionless.

"Where's Linda?" asked Link worryingly, bending over the counter so that Hena could see him past Shane.

"She lost her invitation," said Hena rolling her eyes, "She just noticed it when we were standing before the intimidating soldier at the door. He thought we were party crashers!"

"So you left her outside?" exclaimed Link incredulously.

"No, no… she said that she might have probably dropped it in Koume's Potion Shop, so she went there to check," Hena explained, "I insisted on accompanying her but she refused, saying that it shouldn't take her long."

"Link, you came!" suddenly exclaimed Zelda, sitting next to him and giving him a swift hug, "When did you arrive?"

"About five minutes ago," responded Link, feeling as if electricity were flowing through his veins the moment she embraced him.

"I love that song," said Zelda as the Indigo-Go's started playing a slow song Link knew very well as the "Ballad of the Windfish". Her blue eyes were staring at Link in a peculiar manner, "Would you like to dance?"

Link really thought he would faint for a moment. The beautiful princess was asking him to dance, and his eyes opened wide when she asked it. Zelda had already stood up from her chair and was offering him a hand temptingly.

"Sure," accepted Link, faking a natural, confident voice while his insides were actually trembling, "See you, guys!" he said waving to Baito and Hena with one hand while Zelda dragged him to the center of the dance floor with the other. Shane gave him a thumbs up, while Hena's face was absolutely neutral.

More and more people started leaving the dance floor as they didn't have a partner to dance, leaving Link and Zelda rather exposed to everyone's sight. Another five or six couples were also dancing. Link couldn't help but smirk when he noticed Farore and Baito dancing nearby, his friend's expression rather grumpy.

"This song is for the birthday girl, Farore!" yelled the Zora bassist from the stage.

Several people clapped and cheered enthusiastically as Farore let go of Baito's shoulder and raised a hand in acknowledgment, grinning broadly.

"C'mon Baito, smile a bit," pleaded Farore as his companion's expression displayed everything but happiness.

"Enjoying the party so far?" asked Zelda to Link, both hands behind his neck.

"It's awesome!" assured Link, his hands trembling a bit on Zelda's waist, "I still can't believe Farore had the Indigo-Go's coming!"

"Em, guilty," admitted Zelda, chuckling, "I practically had to beg to my father to have them coming."

"Oh," was all Link could utter, looking surprised.

"That was my birthday present for her," Zelda told him with a smile.

"Can't think of a better present," assured Link, smiling back at her.

"Where's your friend?" asked the bartender as he gave Shane a mug full of Piña Colada, leaving Link's Romani Shake on the counter. Hena hastened to grab Link's drink and gulped a healthy amount out of it.

"Dancing," Shane told him, "Hena will pay for that one, don't worry."

"Hey!" exclaimed Hena indignantly, her mouth surrounded by foam.

"Okay, then," accepted the bartender before heading toward a new pair of costumers.

"You know, it's strange that Linda hasn't arrived yet," Shane pointed out, drinking some of his Piña Colada.

"It's good that she's not here," said Hena sincerely, watching Link and Zelda dancing really close to each other.

"Why you say that?" asked Shane, frowning at her.

"Never mind," said Hena shaking her head, "But you're right, she's taking too long."

"I hope nothing wrong has happened to her," said Shane seriously.

"Wait here," Hena told Shane, standing up from her chair, "I'll go and look for-"

But her words were drowned by the hard sound of the bar's door hitting against the wall as it was burst open. An unknown figure was rolling down the stairs incredibly fast, beating hard against each step. When it reached the end of the staircase, people gasped worryingly as they approached the figure that lay on the floor. Even the Indigo-Go's had stopped playing and they were getting off the platform to see what the scandal was all about. Link grabbed Zelda's hand and dragged her to the accumulating crowd, managing to push his way to the front. Then he finally saw it. The figure was the Hylian soldier that was guarding the Milk Bar's entrance, a spear crossing his chest through the middle, a pool of blood slowly expanding on the floor. Characteristic red strings that Link had only seen in his History of Hyrule book were tightly tied where the wooden shaft and the pointy head met.

"Moblins… all over the village…" mumbled the weary solider before spiting blood over his mail and convulsing madly. Then he stopped moving; he was dead.

Panic spread among the surrounding people like a plague, running in random directions and pushing people around while screaming their lungs out. Farore in particular gave a piercingly annoying shriek behind Link, causing him goosebumps. The bartender passed running past him, climbing the long staircase in a hurry. He took out a rusty, old key and locked the door. Only Link seemed to notice his action, though, as the people were still yelling and running like zoo animals. Zelda remained by his side, grabbing tightly his arm and looking petrified. Then Link remembered… Linda was still outside.


	5. Playing to be Hero

Chapter 5: Playing to be Hero

"Hena! Shane!" shouted Link in random directions, looking madly for his friends among the bewildered crowd, "Baito! Where are you guys!"

"Link!" called Hena, appearing out of nowhere and grabbing his shoulder, "What's happening? Someone said something about a dead body!"

"The Hylian soldier," Link told her, breathing hard. Zelda's grip on his arm was blocking his blood circulation, "He was attacked with a spear by a Moblin."

"Moblin?" exclaimed Shane incredulously, appearing beside Hena.

"Apparently the village's under attack," Link said, giving a quick glance at Zelda, who looked really pale and remained quiet, "Or that's what the soldier said before dying."

"Do you think they'll come here?" asked Hena worryingly.

"Possibly yes," admitted Link, considering the fact that Hyrule's princess was there, "The bartender locked the door, but I'm not sure that will stop them from entering."

"Your attention!" Link heard someone shouting, though he wasn't sure from which direction the voice came, "Everybody, shut up!" the same voice shouted a second time, this time louder. The people stopped screaming and running at once, their heads turning in the direction of the voice. It was the bartender, who was standing on top of the counter.

"Listen, everyone," he said, accidentally knocking Shane's unfinished Piña Colada with the rear of his shoe while he took a step back, "I locked the door, but I don't think it's enough to hold the Moblins from entering."

Some people were beginning to panic again, but the bartender immediately raised a hand to silence them.

"There's a secret passage in the storage room that leads to Hyrule's sewers," explained the old man, "From there I can guide you to the dried-up Well of Three Features, which is closer to your school's gate."

There was a murmur of approval among the crowd, and the bartender proceeded to get off the counter and he headed toward a door that was half-hidden under the stairs.

"Follow me!" he ordered as he pushed the door open. The people quickly followed him, jumping over the counter and passing through the door in a rush.

"I'll go outside," Link told Hena and Shane with a straight face, "Linda's still out there."

"No, Link, you can't!" exclaimed Zelda immediately, holding his arm tighter, "You're weaponless; you're going to get yourself killed!"

"But she's my friend!" Link replied angrily.

"She's right, Link," admitted Hena, grabbing his shoulder to calm him down, "There's nothing you can do."

"Can't you defeat those Moblins with magic?" said Shane suddenly to Zelda, half-asking, half-suggesting.

"We're not allowed to use magic outside the school grounds until we turn eighteen," reminded Zelda, blushing.

"And you're not eighteen yet!" asked Shane, looking shocked.

"No…" muttered Zelda, still blushing.

"Maybe we can ask Farore, or Din..." started saying Hena before her words faded away as she glanced around the bar, noticing that they were the only ones left, "Oh, crap…"

Beating sounds coming from the door at the end of the staircase caused Link and his friends to look up at it. It seemed that the Moblins were trying to open the door by force.

"_Please_, Link, just come with us!" pleaded Hena, clapping her hands together, "When we get out of the well I promise I'll help you find Linda, but if we stay here we'll be exposed and defenseless."

"Fine," agreed Link, not fully convinced. Zelda literally dragged him toward the storage room door by force immediately, with Shane and Hena ahead of them.

Link had barely closed the door behind him when he heard the sound of a door falling down the stairs. The Moblins were already inside the bar. The sound, however, reminded Link of the soldier falling down the same stairs. In a blink of an eye, that idea connected to another one in his mind. The soldier had a spear… well, actually two, one held in his hand and the other one crossing his chest. He could use that as a weapon. Link reflexively let go of Zelda's hand and rushed back to the bar.

"Link, what are you doing!" cried Zelda, extending a hand in his direction.

"Hurry, leave!" exclaimed Link over his shoulder before he closed the door behind him.

"But, Link!" shrieked Zelda, pretending to race after him.

"Let's go, Zelda!" hurried Hena, only her head coming out of the trapdoor's entry, "He knows what he's doing."

"Or so he knows most of the time," she added as Zelda knelt on the floor to proceed to get inside the trapdoor.

* * *

"There's no one here," snorted a rough voice that reminded Link of a pig, "That old hag was wrong."

Link was crawling behind the counter, attempting to avoid making any noise. His hand met something sticky on the floor, and he swore under his breath as he tried to clean his hand from Shane's spilled Piña Colada. Link dared to peer over the counter slightly. Four bulky creatures that resembled pigs and carried pointy spears were there, apparently searching the bar thoroughly. Link saw the Hylian soldier's spear lying on the floor near his inert body at the other side of the room, the blasted wooden door broken in pieces near him. The Moblin closest to Link was sniffing the floor in a way a swine would do so. He immediately hid his head behind the counter again.

"I smell _someone_," he said, still bending over the floor and sniffing it with his pig-like nose.

"Did you notice how pretty the fireflies are?" asked another Moblin, smiling at the bright lightning bugs soaring above him.

Link sighed heavily. He knew that Moblins weren't the smartest creatures on earth.

"Stop fooling around, idiot!" exclaimed the Moblin that was near Link, "Keep looking!"

Link took the opportunity that the Moblin was facing his companion to quickly grab a bottle of wine from the shelf and smash it against his head. The other three Moblins immediately turned their heads in the direction of the sound, but Link was too quick for them: he had already jumped over the counter and had grabbed the spear of the unconscious Moblin that now lied on the floor. The three Moblins raised their spears, ready to fight.

"Don't just stand there, idiots!" snorted the bulkiest Moblin, apparently the leader of them, to the other two, "Get him!"

The two Moblins obediently stepped forward, staring menacingly at Link. The blond-haired guy also took a step forward, not even an inch of fear flowing inside him. One of the Moblins unexpectedly dashed forward, his spear pointing straight ahead toward Link. He reacted quickly, and rolled on the floor to avoid the Moblin's spear that pierced the counter instead. While the Moblin attempted to remove forcibly the spear that was stuck on the counter's hard wood, Link quickly thrust his spear forward and into the creature's belly. The Moblin cried in agony as it tried to remove the spear crossing its stomach with both hands. The other Moblin immediately charged angrily toward Link. The school champion spin kicked the agonizing Moblin, sending it backwards and causing it to collide with its companion who was charging toward Link. Both of them tripped over the unconscious Moblin on the floor, quickly joining his comrade as they fell too.

"These bastards are completely useless!" snorted the only Moblin left that stood on his feet, "I have to do everything by myself."

Link remained in his fighting stance, wishing he had his trusted shield in that moment. He had to get rid of this Moblin before the other three recovered, so that he would be able to leave the Milk Bar and look out for Linda. The Moblin grabbed the wooden shaft of the spear that was buried inside the dead soldier beside him and pulled it hard, the pointy head resurfacing again covered in blood. The bulky pig swung both weapons in his hands while he laughed evilly at Link.

"Let's see if you dare approach me, punk," he laughed.

Link quickly approached one of the fallen Moblins and grabbed its spear. That was the only one accessible to him, as one was stuck inside the counter and the other crossed the Moblin's belly. Link slowly walked towards the mighty Moblin, not taking his eyes off his enemy. The Moblin raced forward, both spears pointing dangerously at Link. He rolled once again on the floor to avoid the Moblin's spear when it was centimeters away from his body, but he was unable to counterattack as he didn't find a spot to strike as both spears protected him well. Link quickly climbed on top of the stage to have a better view. The Indigo-Go's instruments were still there.

"Are you running away from me?" chuckled the Moblin as he climbed on the stage too, pushing Lulu's microphone out of his way.

"Never," said Link as he dashed forward toward him.

The spear fight started, with both duelers trying to find a way to hit their opponent. Link found it difficult to defend himself against two weapons, and the Moblin was driving him to a corner. In an unexpected movement, the Moblin hit Link's spear with its own and send it flying away from his hand, landing near Evan's piano. Link fell back, landing on his rear.

"So, you're weaponless now, uh?" snorted the Moblin, smirking at him. He walked closer to him, his spear held high above his head.

"Really? Then what's this," said Link, hooking his left foot with the even-toed one of the Moblin and pulling it hard. The Moblin immediately lost balance and fell backwards, hitting his head against Tijo's drums in the process.

Link hastily stood up and grabbed Japas's bass, which was the closest instrument at his disposal, and swung it hard against the Moblin's left cheek in a baseball-like fashion. The overgrown pig fell off the stage along with the drums, causing plenty of noise. Link jumped off the stage and quickly ran toward the staircase.

"Not so fast," snorted the robust Moblin, doing plenty of effort to stand back on his feet, "I'm not done yet."

"Neither do we," uttered a voice behind the big Moblin. Two of the Moblins had recovered, and proceeded to level themselves beside their leader. The Moblin that had the spear crossing his body was still on the floor.

"But _we_ will finish you," confirmed another voice, a human voice. Link turned in the direction of the sound and was surprised to see Shane and Baito coming out of the storage room, both carrying a small sword in their hands.

"Hurry up, Link, look out for Linda," ordered Baito, "We'll take care of these fools."

"From where did you get those swords?" asked Link, shocked.

"They were in the storage room," Shane told him, smiling, "Who knew that old man kept these."

"_If only I knew…man, things would have been much easier,"_ Link said to himself in his mind.

"Well, hurry up!" urged Shane, climbing on top of the counter, intimidating the closest Moblin who backed off.

"Thank you guys!" exclaimed Link as he climbed the staircase at top speed.

Link glanced downstairs swiftly before closing the door behind him, seeing Baito and Shane fighting vividly against the three Moblins. The frigid breeze of a typical autumn night welcomed Link once he was outside the Milk Bar. People were running in several directions, some of them screaming in a similar fashion to that of Farore's. A nearby house was burning in flames, the fire illuminating the street where Link was. He watched a villager passing by, quickly followed by a Moblin chasing after him. Link wanted to help him, but he had to find Linda first. He decided that it was best to check on the Potion Shop first, after all, that's where she went.

Link ran at top speed along the street, his heavy footsteps drowned by the uproar all around him. He saw a Moblin's spear lying on the middle of the street by itself. He decided to pick it up, just in case he would need it. Link glanced right and left as he continued running, noticing that other few houses and establishments were set of fire too.

"Please, help me!" exclaimed a voice as Link passed by, the Potion Shop just ahead of him.

Link looked in the direction of the voice and stopped running. A lonely, young fellow was trapped under a big wooden slab that had probably fallen from the flaring building behind him.

"Please, man, help me!" he exclaimed again looking pleadingly at Link, extending a hand to him.

Link hesitated for a moment. The Potion Shop was a few meters away. His will didn't let him overlook his plea, and he sighed heavily before approaching the guy. He let go of the spear and grabbed the wooden slab with both hands. It was really heavy. The fellow helped him by pushing his back upward as Link carefully lifted the slab. Once there was enough space, the guy quickly crawled to a safe ground.

"Thank you very much, man," said the fellow with shaky voice as he bent and grabbed his knees, exhaling with difficulty, "I thought I would die in suffocation."

"Anytime," answered Link, picking the spear from the ground, "Listen, not to be rude or anything, but I need to do something right now," he stated in the most courteous voice he was able to pull as he raced toward the Potion Shop, leaving the guy behind, "I'm glad you're fine!" he shouted back at the astonished guy. For some reason, he looked quite familiar.

"Linda! Are you here?" exclaimed Link loudly as he burst the door of the Potion Shop open.

There was no response. The store seemed to be completely deserted, and a disturbing silence reigned the place. Link walked around the shop, inspecting every corner. He noticed that even the potion-filled cauldrons were no longer bubbling. Link saw a door situated behind the counter, pretty much resembling the one in the Milk Bar. He jumped over the counter, and proceeded to open the door. His eyes met a surprising sight: Linda was lying on the floor of a small cupboard, wrapped in tight ropes around her body, and apparently unconscious.

"Linda!" exclaimed Link as bent on his knees beside her, careful not to hit his head with the shelf above. He immediately started undoing the knots around her.

"Linda, can you hear me?" asked Link, shaking her body lightly once he freed her from the ropes. There was no response.

She had scratches all over her arms, and a string of blood was falling down her cheek from the forehead. She looked really pale, and Link hoped she wasn't seriously injured.

"Don't worry, Linda, I will get you out of here," whispered Link tenderly to her as he threw away the spear and prepared himself to carry her in his arms.

* * *

"Is everyone here?" asked Professor Ashei with her usual strong voice, directing to the crowd of scared students at the front of the school's gate.

"N-no, Professor Ashei," said Hena timidly, raising her hand so that Professor Ashei could see her. The tall, dark-haired warrior woman intimidated Hena a lot, even though she had been their Swordsmanship teacher since freshman year and Hena was used to her presence. There was still something about her dominating character and her solider mail she always wore that chilled Hena to the bone.

"No?" repeated Professor Ashei, staring at the terrified Hena, "Why is that, Miss Demidova?"

"L-linda is missing, Professor, no one has seen in her in quite a while," explained Hena with shaky voice, avoiding her teacher's gaze, "Link went looking for her."

"And Baito and a friend of his," added Farore, stepping forward. She had red eyes and a few tears were flowing down her cheeks. Linda inferred that she was crying by the fact that her birthday had been ruined rather than the village being under attack.

"We're right here!" shouted a distant voice. The students looked down the road to see Baito and Shane running toward them.

"Sorry, Professor," apologized Baito as he and Shane reached Professor Ashei. Baito's left sleeve of his shirt had been ripped apart and his shoulder was bleeding. Shane seemed to be perfectly fine, for the exception of a minuscule scratch on his neck.

"You were playing to be heroes, uh? We already have enough with those pathetic excuses for Hylian soldiers," she said, pointing a soldier leaning his back against a rock a few yards away and moaning for his apparently broken wrist. Everyone knew how much Professor Ashei hated and derogated Hyrule's soldiers.

"We were helping Link with some Moblins, Professor," explained Shane, eying carefully the pointy sword Professor Ashei held in her hand, very big compared to the one he and Baito carried, "So that he could look out for Linda."

"That's really brave, indeed," stated Professor Ashei, "I myself support your action."

Baito and Shane interchanged surprised looks, and then smiled to her teacher.

"However," Professor Ashei said, and their smiles faded away in a fraction of a second, "According to the school's policy, students are not allowed to use weapons outside the school's grounds unless they are under attack.

"Since you pursued the threat itself at your own will, I'm afraid both of you have gained a detention."

"What?" exclaimed Shane in an outburst, "That's not fair!"

"I'm sorry, but those are the rules," said Professor Medli, crossing her arms. She had remained silent beside Professor Ashei for quite a while, and her expression denoted fear, "Mr. Adonis will also join you in your detention, don't worry."

"I'm going back to the village," said Professor Ashei decisively to the winged teacher, "I'll make sure Mr. Adonis and Miss Adlam are okay."

"Fine, Professor," agreed Professor Medli, nodding, "I'll take the students back to the castle."

"Baito!" screamed Farore, running to the arms of the brunette guy, "I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Thank you…" Baito replied faintly as Farore hugged him hard.

"Gosh! I'll _never_ enter that freaky well ever again!" Baito heard Din complaining to Zelda while she was cleaning her shoe (which was covered in mud) with her hand, "These were _new_!"

Zelda merely shook her head and didn't answer. She was still thinking about Link and his whereabouts. She still couldn't believe he had abandoned her in the middle of such a critical situation.

* * *

Link was running as fast as his legs permitted him, carrying an injured Linda in front of him. The street was empty, the only sound coming from the burning houses and gusty wind. Link was able to see the school's gate in the distance, giving his legs an extra motivation to carry on.

"Well, well, well," snorted a nearby voice. Link stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a Moblin smirking at him evilly beside a burning oak tree in front of him, "What we have here?"

"Your death," replied coldly another voice. In the blink of an eye, Professor Ashei appeared out of nowhere and shot an arrow straight to the Moblin's heart. The beast dropped his weapon and fell to the ground, agonizing a few seconds before dying.

"Are you okay, Mr. Adonis?" asked Professor Ashei as she walked closer to him, putting her bow back on the quiver behind her back.

"I'm fine," answered Link to his teacher before returning his stare back to Linda with sadness, "But Linda isn't."

"I'll take care of her now," she said, taking Linda out of his hands immediately, "Now, catch up with the rest of the students; Professor Medli is extremely worried."

Link didn't want to leave; he wanted to stay with Linda, but the penetrating stare of Professor Ashei told him that he must obey. Giving Linda one last glance, Link raced toward the school's gate.

* * *

So Linda had a broken arm and other minor injuries. She had been transferred from the school's nursery to the hospital in Hyrule Castle Town during the night. Link and his friends weren't able to visit Linda before she left as Mrs. Anju insisted that she should be resting and no visitors were allowed. No one knew what had happened to her back at the Potion Shop. Link felt really frustrated by the fact that things between them didn't end very well before her accident and now he wasn't able to see her at all.

"Link, calm down or you're going to break the table," warned Hena as she grabbed Link's wrist firmly to stop him from smashing the dinning table once more with his hand, "That won't bring her back."

"Do you know how long she'll be in the hospital?" asked Shane to Hena. He had barely touched the chicken in the plate in front of him. None of them appeared to be hungry as they were all worried about their friend.

"Mrs. Anju said that she will stay there at least one month," informed Hena weakly, looking blankly at the table.

"There's a long article about what happened last night," said Baito, placing the newspaper open in the center of the table.

Link twisted his head sideways to see the article clearly. Above it was a big, black-and-white picture of Kakariko Village burning in flames under a dark sky.

KAKARIKO VILLAGE UNDER ATTACK

_Yesterday, a Moblin invasion attacked Kakariko Village around 7 p.m. The attack was an unexpected surprise, and Hylian soldiers did everything in their power to stop this madness. The invaders burned down houses, injured children, and even killed townsfolk. Five human deaths were registered (see next page for full names). Misses Koume (age 72, well-known owner of the Potion Shop) and Mr. Eaton (age 35, common resident of Kakariko Village) are currently missing. A search party was sent this morning to look out for them. Some Hyrule Academy's students were also in the village when the attack occurred. However, school professors assured that all of their students returned alive back to the castle. The king of Hyrule, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule III, was interviewed about the matter itself: "It's well-known that Moblins were used by the evil king Ganondorf during dark times two centuries ago as his minions. I wouldn't be surprised if followers had been gathering lately. What I know is that Moblins aren't smart enough to plan an attack by themselves, which leads me to think that a smarter and greater unknown force is our real enemy." (For full interview see page 4). Despite the tragic events of last night, townsfolk have already started to lift themselves back on their feet. Kakariko Village residents and authorities have worked hard since the attack to rebuild and repair the damages the invaders caused. The king assured that he will strengthen security in the village and promised to send additional soldiers to guard the place before noon. The cause of the Moblin's attack remains, sadly, unknown. _

"Isn't it weird that both Linda and that old hag were attacked by the Moblins?" asked Baito, scratching his wide jaw, "Maybe both of them were in the Potion Shop when the Moblins attacked."

"So Linda may know where they took that poor, old woman," concluded Hena.

"To be honest, I don't really care about her," said Shane frankly, playing with his fork, "I only care about Linda."

"If only we could visit her…" murmured Link sadly.

"You know that's impossible," interjected Hena immediately, "Professor Rauru will never let us leave this castle, especially with what just happened."

"Thanks for pointing that out," thanked Link sarcastically.

"Maybe _we_ can't…" said Shane, looking thoughtful, "But _somebody_ who's more important might help us convince the headmaster…" he uttered mysteriously while eyeing Zelda, who was walking down the Dinning Hall with Farore at one side and Nayru at the other. Baito, Hena and Shane stared at Link.


	6. Zelda's Plan

Chapter 6: Zelda's Plan

"Let me guess," Link said bitterly, "You want me to convince her to take us there?"

"You say that like if you didn't want to see Linda!" exclaimed Hena indignantly.

"Is not that, is just that…" mumbled Link hesitatingly, "I haven't talked to her since what happened yesterday. I practically abandoned her, and now I will go and ask her a favor? C'mon!"

"She knows you were doing a good thing," Hena told him, "I don't think she's angry at you."

"C'mon, dude, give it a try," pleaded Baito.

"Fine," agreed Link bitterly, "But I won't promise you I'll succeed."

"Thanks," replied Hena, smiling, "You have Divination class with her, don't you?"

"Yes," answered Link, peering over Hena's shoulder to look at the clock. Seven minutes remained before the class started.

"Make sure to seat close to her," recommended Baito, standing up from his seat, "I need to talk to Farore; good luck with that, Link."

"I thought you didn't like her," uttered Hena frowning at him.

"Exactly," answered Baito, putting his backpack over his wide shoulder and looking at his freckly friend, "I'm _breaking_ up with her."

"Why you say it in that tone?" asked Link curiously.

"Because we are not even going out," Baito pointed out confusedly, "But I'll tell her that I need my space."

"Good luck with that," exclaimed Shane as Baito walked away in Farore's direction.

"I'm glad he's breaking up with her," said Hena frankly, "He deserves much better."

"Yea, whatever," said Shane, standing up too and looking at his blonde friend, "Should we get going, Link?"

"Sure," agreed Link, standing up too and packing up his things.

"Aw, I'm walking to Farming class alone now that Linda's not here," mumbled Hena disappointed, standing up as well, "So sad."

"I'm terribly sorry…" replied Link with a painful look, placing a hand over her shoulder, "We'll still see you in Artifacts class, okay?"

"Yes…" said Hena with no enthusiasm at all, "Good luck with Zelda."

"Thanks!" Link shouted back as he and Shane blended with the crowd of students that were going in different directions to their classes.

* * *

Link managed to sit in the desk beside Zelda during Divination class, just like Baito had suggested him. Professor Astrid, a Cobble with an exotic gray hair piled up in a hill behind her head, was peering at the clock of the classroom with her only visible eye (the other was hidden under her hair). She started pacing around the classroom, her long, purple dress covering her feet, making the illusion that she was floating instead of walking.

"Today, we're going to continue reading tea leaves," indicated the spacey Professor Astrid, causing her students to fell silent, "I want you to work in pairs."

"Zelda, would like to be my partner?" Link whispered to her quickly.

"Sure," she responded. She didn't sound angry, but she didn't sound happy either.

"You'll find the necessary information on page 43 of your textbook," informed Professor Ashei, "Before the class ends I'll ask you a few questions about what you saw."

Link stood up and grabbed Zelda's desk to move it closer to his while she carried the chair. Once the students started chatting with their partners and Professor Astrid had returned back to her desk, Link knew it was time to talk to Zelda about what had happened last night.

"How are you?" Link asked her shyly, staring at her.

"Fine," she said coldly, not looking back at him. She turned her back on him as she rummaged inside her school bag for her textbook, "Is page 43, isn't it?"

"Listen," said Link decisively, holding her arm and pulling it toward him gently to make her look at him, "I'm really sorry… about last night. I was really worried about Linda and I just couldn't escape knowing that she might be hurt. I'm sorry that I abandoned you suddenly."

Zelda stared directly at Link's blue eyes for a full ten seconds, guilt displayed in her eyes, "No, Link, you don't need to apologize," she said softly, grabbing his hand and holding it tight, "I'm acting like a selfish little child. You were doing the right thing after all. It's just that… when you left… I felt… well, never mind."

"I'm really sorry," apologized Link again, "Things happened so fast..."

"Don't worry about it, really," she said before displaying her white teeth in a smile that made Link melt, "I'm just glad you are okay."

"Too bad Linda wasn't as lucky…" uttered Link sadly.

"Yes, I heard the news…" said Zelda, staring at the cup's contents in front of her thoughtfully, "When she's coming back?"

"Professor Rauru told us that by the end of November," Link told her.

"At least she will recover," she said, shaking his hand gently as to cheer him up.

"Yes, thanks goddess…" said Link, opening his textbook in a random page, "I wish I could visit her."

"You know, I can talk to my father," said Zelda, mimicking Link and opening her book, "I might convince him to let you guys visit her." Link couldn't help but smile.

"Would you that for me?" asked Link surprised, staring back at her.

"Of course!" she said before smiling back at him.

"Oh, my dear goddess!" suddenly exclaimed Professor Astrid behind Link loudly, causing him and Zelda to jump on their seats. She leaned forward and picked up Link's cup from his desk, almost knocking him off his chair, "Oh…" she then exclaimed disappointedly, Link and Zelda staring at her, looking scared, "I'm sorry, my dear, I thought I saw something else."

She then returned Link's cup back on top of his desk and walked away like nothing had happened, leaving Zelda and Link petrified.

"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Shane a yard away from Link, sitting next to Rafton.

"No idea," responded Link shrugging his shoulders, "Zelda are you okay?" asked Link when he noticed that the kingdom princess looked shocked.

"She almost gave me a heart attack," said Zelda seriously, breathing hard. Link, Shane and Rafton laughed.

"She scared the crap out of you for nothing, didn't she?" asked Shane, shaking his head, "She always does that. How does she expect us to read this trash when she confuses the symbols herself?"

* * *

Link and the rest of the junior guys were running around the perimeter of the academy's castle, being careful not to slip on the wet, short grass. Shane had already fallen twice. The girls were not so far away from them, the willowy Zora teacher Professor Ruto making them demonstrate their broad jumping skills on the sandy area of the academy's grounds. Link was eyeing them with the corner of his eye. In Link's opinion, Zelda looked really good in those athletic shorts…

"Mr. Adonis, what the hell are you doing?" exclaimed furiously Professor Darunia, a big and intimidating Goron who was watching them near the academy's entrance doors, "Professor Dampé could run faster than you!"

"Sorry, Professor!" shouted Link in an apology as he worked his legs harder to catch up with Shane and Baito who were running just a bit ahead of him.

Professor Darunia's comment made Link realize that he wasn't trying hard enough. The first task was coming nearer and nearer, and he was clearly not prepared for it. Link remembered angrily the fact that he couldn't use his free hour to train, as he had detention with Professor Ashei for what happened yesterday. His self-esteem didn't go any higher when he saw the Sheikah College champion, Damatih, practicing his sword skills by cutting vertical wood logs placed all around him near the forest's edge. Judging the shiny appearance his sweaty face reflected, he had been practicing for hours. Giving a quick glance to Professor Darunia to make sure that he wasn't looking at him, Link ran decisively in his direction. Shane and Baito ceased their running and stared at Link suspiciously as he was getting closer to where the burly champion was. Damatih noticed Link's presence when he was a yard away from him, leaving his sword leaning against one of the logs and gazing at him fixedly with a superior air.

"What do you want, Hylian?" he asked coldly, running a hand over his forehead to wipe some sweat away from it.

"I think you have some stuff that belongs to me," said Link fearlessly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What are you babbling about?" Damatih barked, frowning at him heavily.

"The time we met in the bathroom," reminded Link, keeping eye contact, "_Somehow_ my clothes weren't there when I came out of the shower."

"You're so stupid that you cannot find your own clothes?" asked Damatih incredulously, laughing, "I can't believe you were chosen to be your school's champion."

"Stop saying bullshit," hissed Link angrily, taking a step closer, "I know you took them; there was nobody there but you and me."

"Then you need to do your research better," said Damatih harshly, "'Cause I didn't take your stupid clothes."

Link was losing his patience. He lunged forward and pushed him on the shoulders, causing Damatih to move back a few steps. His perplexed expression suddenly turned into a murderous one. He raced toward Link, ready to tackle him with both arms. Link was preparing himself to receive the impact when a big, orange hand grasped Damatih's wife beater strongly and stopped him from reaching Link.

"Humph, what is going on here?" asked Professor Darunia, exchanging glances with Link and Damatih. He let go of Damatih's wife beater and the Sheikah champion immediately backed off. He was almost as tall as Darunia, but the Goron sure weighted three times his weight.

"He started it," said Damatih grumpily, pointing a finger at Link, "He pushed me."

Professor Darunia looked at Link, frowning.

"He stole my clothes!" exclaimed Link furiously.

"But you're fully dressed, Mr. Adonis," Professor Darunia pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Not right now, Professor," uttered Link embarrassedly, "He did it two weeks ago."

"I didn't steal your clothes, Hylian," said Damatih, shaking his head, "Why can't you get that?"

"Yes, you did!" exclaimed Link angrily.

"Did you steal his clothes, Mister?" asked Professor Darunia in a friendly manner. It was well-known that teachers did their best to behave well with the foreign students.

"No, I didn't," said Damatih, sincerely, "He might have lost them."

"There was nobody else in the bathroom when it happened," Link told Professor Darunia.

"Well, that doesn't really mean that he took them," Professor Darunia pointed out, scratching his chin, "Why don't you check well inside your wardrobe, Mr. Adonis?"

Link exhaled hard. He knew that Professor Darunia wouldn't support him because he was told to act nicely with the foreign students. He was the teacher and Link was the student; he knew that it was a fight he would never win.

"Fine, Professor… I will," said Link in defeat.

"Listen, for this time, I won't give you detention," said Professor Darunia calmly, "I heard you already have detention for two weeks, Mr. Adonis."

Link didn't say a thing as he stared at the grass bitterly. Damatih, on the other hand, was beaming.

"Make sure that this won't happen again, humph" Professor Darunia warned both of them.

"Yes, Professor," said Link while Damatih merely nodded.

"Now, go to the showers," indicated Professor Darunia to Link, "Three minutes remain before the bell rings."

Link jogged away from both of them, still feeling mad but happy at the same time that he didn't receive any more detentions. He turned his head to give Damatih a last glance. The Sheikah's lips were moving behind Professor Darunia while he stared in his direction: "This is not over."

* * *

Link, Shane, and Baito were sitting on the front of the Swordsmanship classroom. There were no windows as daylight didn't reach the dungeons, which is where the classroom was located. The gloomy chamber was only dimly illuminated by torches lit on each wall. The classroom was empty for the exception of the three, the only sound coming from the burning wood of the torches and the squeaking sound of Shane's impatient foot stepping on the damp floor.

"I was just about to receive another detention," Link told his friends, supporting his chin on his hand.

"You were?" asked Baito surprised.

"Yea, didn't you guys see! I made a whole scene," answered Link bitterly. "Thanks to Damatih."

"Damatih who?" asked Shane confused, stopping his squeaking.

"The Sheikah champion," Link reminded them, "The one I told you that stole my clothes the day of the selection."

"Oh, yea, I remember," said Baito, "Need some help to deal with him?" he offered, hitting his fists against each other in front of him.

"Nah, thanks," refused Link, shaking his head, "I can take care of him myself."

Shane was about to say something when the classroom's door burst open. The Swordsmanship teacher, Professor Ashei, entered the chamber in a hurried pace. Her two ponytails swung madly in front of her sturdy armor as she reached her desk. She didn't sit down, but she eyed the three students in front of her.

"Listen, you'll like to hear that I won't be here during your detention," she said hurriedly, "Those soldiers are completely useless; I'm going to the help the villagers of Kakariko to reconstruct their buildings.

"I didn't find a teacher to take care of you while I'm gone," she continued, "So the only choice I have is to trust that you will do what I say and that you won't leave this classroom, yeah?"

"Yes, Professor," confirmed Shane as Baito and Link nodded heavily.

"You'll be cleaning the desks," she indicated, pointing a small bucket that was at the other side of the classroom, "There are three sponges there, once for each."

"And if we finish before you come back…" started saying Baito hopefully, "Can we leave?"

"No, Mr. Jones," stated Professor Ashei, "Once the two hours have been completed, Professor Medli will come here to pick you up. You'd better be here when she comes, or you will be in deep trouble. Understood?"

"Yes, Professor…" said Baito, lacking any enthusiasm.

"So start cleaning, yeah?" ordered Professor Ashei to the trio before walking towards the door, "I want those desks spotlessly clean."

"Yes, Professor," said the trio boringly as Professor Ashei exited the gloomy classroom.

"So, let's get to work," said Link sadly as he stood up from the desk, Baito and Shane quickly following him.

"You know, if you think about it," uttered Baito reasonably, "This work is not THAT hard."

"It's still boring," Shane pointed out, bending over the bucket and submerging his hand in the water to pick up a sponge.

"Hey, I think I have an idea…" said Link looking around the classroom, noticing the medieval weapons that were hung on the walls, "I think we can still have our practice session…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Shane clueless, looking at Link as if he had gone mad.

"See those swords…?" said Link, pointing at exactly three middle-sized swords on the wall.

Baito and Shane followed the direction of Link's finger until they saw the metallic weapons, smiling broadly back at him immediately.

* * *

Detention didn't go that bad after all as Link had initially thought. After swiftly cleaning the desks like crazy people, they pushed them to the walls and practiced in the middle of the classroom. Minutes before the two hour lapse was completed, Link and his friends hung the weapons back on the walls and returned the desks to their usual spot as if nothing had happened. When Professor Medli entered the classroom she just saw three innocent-looking students sitting on the front desks quietly.

"Something is wrong here…" Professor Medli had murmured to herself when she arrived at the classroom, "Mr. Hermes being quiet? They must be up to something."

* * *

The rest of the day passed rather slowly in Link's opinion, and he was really glad to go down to the Dining Hall at dinner, as his stomach had been starving madly. He sat at his usual spot on the junior's table, serving himself some tacos before any of his three friends (without counting Linda) showed up. Actually, just a few people were there. He came down at exactly seven o'clock, while most of the students usually showed up a bit later. A few minutes passed before Shane and Baito came up to him from the opposite side of the table.

"Why did you come downstairs without us?" asked Shane, frowning at him as he sat down at the table.

"Sorry," apologized Link quickly, leaving his taco down for a second, "I was in the library and I was starving to death so I came here directly at seven."

"What were you doing at the library?" asked Baito incredulously before giving a gigantic bite to his taco.

"I was doing some research on plant monsters," uttered Link, feeling very 'Linda-ish' when saying so, "Learning the theoretic side of things might come in handy."

"To me it sounds like a wasted evening," commented Shane sincerely, shaking his head in disbelief as he pricked a potato on his plate.

"And what _you_ did?" asked Link curiously. However, it was Baito who answered the question.

"He was trying to hit on Farore," said Baito annoyingly, hitting his fork against the plate so hard that Link thought for a second that it would break.

"Baito, I already apologized!" exclaimed Shane with an innocent expression on his face, "You told me that the thing you had with her is over now…"

"Yes, but you don't know Farore," stated Baito, scratching his head, "She is… well, believe me, you don't want to be with her."

"Why not?" asked Shane frowning at him.

"Just trust me in this one," said Baito wisely.

"But…" started saying Shane.

"Okay, then! Do as you want," exclaimed Baito losing his patience, "But don't say that I didn't warn you."

"Hey, Link," suddenly said a soft voice behind him. Link turned his head just to see Zelda sitting down next to him.

"Hey, Zelda," greeted Link while Baito and Shane continued discussing at his other side.

"My father already answered the letter I sent to him," said Zelda, her face displaying a neutral expression.

"And…?" uttered Link eagerly.

"There was no luck," she said, twisting her lips, "He says that I'm asking too much, that those kinds of visits can only be done if the injured person is a family member."

"Oh…" gasped Link disappointed.

"But I have a plan," announced Zelda with a mischievous look. Her face reminded Link to that of a child about to do a prank.

"Which plan?" asked Link confusedly.

"I need to send another letter," she explained, standing up from the table, "Tomorrow I'll tell you the details," she added, smiling playfully and then turning to Shane, "By the way, Shane, Farore is looking for you."

Shane's eyes widened suddenly and looked excitedly at Zelda, who had already turned her back to them and was walking back to her side of the long table.

"I'll be back," said Shane immediately, hastily standing up from his seat and following Zelda. He didn't even wait for any of his friends to respond, leaving Baito staring at him with pity and Link staring at the table dumfounded of what Zelda had told him last.

"Poor Shane," muttered Baito sadly.

"What?" exclaimed Link perplexed, snapping out of his thoughts.

"I mean, Farore doesn't really like him," confirmed Baito in a pity tone.

"Ah," uttered Link, now understating the subject of the conversation, "How can you be so sure?"

"I don't how to say this without sounding too full of myself," replied Baito sincerely.

"I already think you're full of yourself, don't worry," assured Link half-smiling.

"Very funny," said Baito sarcastically before recovering his usual tone, "Well… I think that Farore is using him to make me jealous."

"That's a crazy conclusion," Link pointed out, surprised.

"Man, she literally started crying when I told her that I didn't want anything with her," recounted Baito, shaking his head, "I know she still likes me."

"Are you absolutely sure?" questioned Link worryingly.

"Positive," confirmed Baito, "And I don't want to see Shane getting hurt."

"But what should we do?" exclaimed Link.

"Not much, he's really stubborn," stated Baito, "Plus I don't think he wants to discuss this once more with me."

"I'll try to talk to him about it tomorrow morning," assured Link decisively, "Maybe he'll listen to me."

"For his own good," said Baito, exhaling hard, "By the way, what did Zelda wanted?"

"She came to tell me that his father didn't let us visit Linda," replied Link cheerlessly.

"Oh, man, that sucks," complained Baito with anguish.

"But then she told me that she had a plan," recounted Link.

"What kind of plan?" asked Baito deeply interested.

"She wouldn't say!" exclaimed Link in frustration, "She just gave me this playful look and told me that she would tell me tomorrow after she received a letter."

"Bizarre…" mumbled Baito, "What do you think she's up to?"

"No idea," answered Link clueless, "We'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

"Yea…" said Baito faintly, "By the way have you seen Hena?"

"No," uttered Link, eyeing the junior's table from one extreme to the other, "Where could she be?"

"Dunno," said Baito, shrugging, "Last time I saw her was after Potion Class."

"Maybe she skipped dinner," suggested Link, "I recall her telling me yesterday that she was gaining a few pounds lately."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Baito loudly, "She's not even fat."

"I know, but make her understand that," said Link, rolling his eyes, "She's a girl."

"Well… you're right," admitted Baito defeated.

"I think I'm going to bed now," said Link yawning heavily, "That lecture sure left me exhausted."

"Have you already done Math homework?" questioned Baito to Link, the later already standing up from his seat.

"No," said Link, remembering that in fact, he hadn't done it, "We have a free period before the class starts, why you don't we do it during that period?"

"Sounds good to me," accepted Baito, glancing to where Shane was sitting, Farore's head leaning against his shoulder, "I'm not in the mood to do Math right now, anyway."


	7. The Escape

**So yea here it goes... I haven't updated this story in a year or more. To be honest, I haven't visited this site in a long time. However, I did recently and started reading this story from scratch. I liked it and decided that I would like to continue it. I'm sure I lost most of my readers due to the long delay, but I hope to attract new ones. I reuploaded all chapters and made some minor grammatic/spelling corrections. I will update next week!**

Chapter 7: The Escape

"So, can you repeat the whole thing again?" pleaded Link nervously to Zelda, who was now sitting next to him on the grass. The idea of escaping the academy at night didn't seem to please him at all.

"Yes…" said Zelda patiently. "My nursemaid has it all under control; it was mainly her idea after all."

"Romani's uncle delivers milk to school at seven thirty tomorrow evening," the Hyrule princess explained. "After he leaves the barn and carries the bottles out of the wagon, we'll go inside and hide there."

"Isn't it too risky?" interrupted Hena suddenly. "What if he catches us?"

"No, no, he's on our side," clarified Zelda. "Impa already spoke to him and everything; he's doing us this little favor."

"Impa?" exclaimed Baito staring incredulously at the Hylian princess. "The Sheikah headmaster?"

"No, no, my nursemaid!" Zelda corrected rapidly, about to laugh. "They have the same name."

"Okay, so we get inside the wagon… and then what?" questioned Link eagerly, giving a quick glance to his notebook: he hadn't done a single math problem of his homework.

"We wait until he comes back…" uttered Zelda. "And then we leave the school grounds with him undetected."

"Until now it seems like a good plan," said Baito to Zelda in a compliment. "And then, after we leave the school grounds?"

"Talon will take us to his ranch, Lon Lon Ranch," continued Zelda. "There he will lend us some horses so that we can go to the castle town."

"By that time it will already be like nine or ten," Hena pointed out. "I heard visits at the hospital end at nine."

"And that's true," Zelda confirmed. "And that's why Impa sent me a false permission with my father's signature."

"Pure genius!" exclaimed Baito amazed. The other three laughed.

"But wouldn't it be a bit too suspicious for five high school students to suddenly arrive at the hospital in the middle of the night?" Link pointed out.

"Well, yes…" whispered Zelda. She suddenly started looking nervous. "You'll have to trust my Transfiguration skills…"

"What?" exclaimed Hena perplexed.

"I can transform us all into plain residents," Zelda explained, already expecting the petrified expressions from the other three, "but it will only last for one hour."

"And… is it… safe?" asked Hena nervously.

"Yes, don't worry," uttered Zelda, this time a bit more confident, "I'm good at it."

"Wouldn't they still ask us our names or something?" inferred Link, frowning slightly.

"Once we give them the fake permission I'm sure they won't ask us too many questions," assured Zelda.

"It still sounds like a good plan to me," admitted Baito astounded. "And then how we'll get back to the academy?"

"We won't," answered Zelda, "At least for that night."

"What do you mean?" asked Hena perplexed, her eyes wide open.

"We'll sleep at the castle," said Zelda. "We need to get past the guards… but don't worry I know those gardens well; we can get through."

"And the plan continues to get even more dangerous," joked Link with a nervous laugh.

"Impa already prepared us two rooms," indicated Zelda. "Hena, Din and I will sleep in one room and you three guys will sleep in the other."

"Din?" asked Baito, interested.

"Yes, she wants to come along," replied Zelda.

"And Farore?" asked Shane hopefully. Baito rolled his eyes.

"No, she said that it was too dangerous," said Zelda bitterly. Shane displayed a disappointed face, while Baito smirked.

"And then what about school?" asked Hena, "Classes start at ten in the morning."

"It's too risky to attempt to evade the guards during daylight," said Zelda. "So we'll leave at five in the morning."

"Man, we'll end up sleeping like three hours," realized Baito troubled.

"You wake up almost every day at five o'clock to run around the academy grounds, anyway," Link pointed out. Baito laughed sarcastically.

"Once we are out of the perimeter of the castle," continued explaining Zelda, "we will go for our horses, which we must had previously hidden somewhere for the night, and go back to Lon Lon Ranch.

"Talon will wait for us there with breakfast ready."

"That's such a relief!" exclaimed Hena happily.

"Then we will repeat the process, but backwards…" said Zelda. "We'll enter the wagon again and Talon will get us back to school, giving the soldiers the excuse that he forgot to deliver two milk bottles the day before."

"Why don't we go directly to school without having breakfast?" suggested Baito, scratching his chin, "We would arrive at the academy earlier and it would be less risky."

"At first I was thinking the same thing…" said Zelda disappointed. "But then I discovered that the school gates are open to outsiders only after nine o'clock."

"So we will get here just one hour before classes start…" reasoned Baito, "If we stick to the plan this might work."

"Zelda, you put such effort into this…" mumbled Link amazed, "Thank you very much."

"Anything to help," replied Zelda with a smile, winking at him. Link felt the blood rushing rapidly up to his cheeks.

"Link, we need to hurry up if we want to finish this trash," said Baito, shaking Link's left arm lightly to have his attention.

"Yea, you're right," admitted Link, getting his attention back to his notebook and picking up his quill from the grass.

"I'm leaving now," informed Zelda, standing up to her feet and passing a hand over her dress to get rid of small leaves that had stick to it. "So, tomorrow we'll go down to the Dinning Hall at seven to pick up some food and then we'll meet right here."

"Why here?" asked Baito, confused.

"We'll look extremely suspicious if we leave through the main doors." Zelda pointed out.

"She's right," supported Hena.

"And then from here we'll go down to the barn and… well, you know," finished Zelda, taking a deep, long breath.

"Okay," confirmed Link firmly, but nervously.

"So, see you later, guys," said Zelda waving at them and starting to walk away. "By the way, Baito, the square root of thirty six is DEFINITELY not five," she added to the brunette guy, looking at his notebook with a smile.

* * *

"The plan sounds ridiculously stupid and dangerous," expressed Shane, looking amazed, "I'm damn in!"

Link was telling Shane about Zelda's plan during their last class of the day, Astronomy. It was the only class (for the exception of Spiritual Phenomena once in a while) taking place late at night. They were on top of the western tower of the castle, by far the tallest. Baito was helping Link by complementing the story.

"So we'll be staying at Hyrule's Castle, huh?" asked Shane excitedly for the fifth time, "That's freaking fancy!"

"Keep your voice down, Mr. Hermes!" croaked old Professor Shikashi as he passed beside them. They were supposed to be making a map of the constellations in the sky. The desks had been moved away from the center towards the circular walls and the students were scattered around the cold stone floor in teams of three. Link saw that their piece of parchment was almost empty, though he was sure that there were many constellations above. Link wondered if tomorrow would be as starry as tonight, and how that could a disadvantage when leaving the school's grounds. It was the first time he questioned himself if all of this was worth it, but remembering how bad things went between him and Linda the last time they spoke made any hesitation disappear.

"Shane, do you think you have some spare ink?" said a ridiculously forced sweet voice behind Link. He turned around to see that Farore was standing before them, smiling broadly at Shane. His brown-haired friend immediately grabbed his ink bottle and stood up, as if by a reflex.

"You can keep it, I don't mind," uttered Shane in a voice that Link had never heard before, smiling stupidly at her.

"Thank you, sweetie," she giggled to him before walking away and heading towards her team consisting of Nayru and Bella, not before smirking to Baito without Shane noticing.

"Goddess! She's so beautiful!" exclaimed Shane exhaling deeply. Baito was about to slap him in the face, but he sensed someone standing behind him.

"Mr. Hermes!" croaked Professor Shikashi again, "Since you have a strong desire of talking, why don't you stand up in the middle and tell the class which constellations you registered in your map?"

"Err," uttered Shane hesitatingly, staring at their almost blank piece of parchment.

* * *

Baito, Link and Shane woke up early next morning. They were all anxious about their breakout taking place that night to see Linda. They were descending the common room's staircase when suddenly they found themselves blocked by the nerdy redhead, Shad.

"Guys, have you seen my Artifacts textbook?" asked the pale guy in an alarmed tone, "I can't seem to find it anywhere!"

"No," said Baito calmly, almost pushing him aside as he made his way downstairs, quickly followed by Link and Shane.

"Go to your room and check there again," Link suggested him before continuing descending, "It has happened to me before; they are always there somewhere."

"Thanks, Link," appreciated Shad smiling at him before proceeding to climb the stairs.

"Doesn't that bookworm have like another four copies of the book stashed under the pillow?" asked Shane as Link caught up with him and Baito, the three of them walking towards the door that led to the dark hallway.

Baito burst to laugh as he pushed the door open, however, Link did not.

"Why aren't you laughing?" asked Shane, staring at him curiously as they crossed the painting, "Was my joke THAT bad?"

"No, no… is not that," said Link, "It's just that he practically saved my life the other day, or well, at least my social life anyway, so I don't think I should be making fun of him."

"Oh, come on, Link," said Baito, pushing him lightly on the arm, "The entire school mocks him anyway."

"Well, I don't plan to do so anymore," said Link decisively as they walked down the stairs that led to the Dinning Hall.

Baito and Shane continued to stare at Link oddly when the three of them arrived at the junior's table, sitting beside Hena who was chatting with the ranch girl, Malon. She was vividly drinking milk, to nobody's surprise. Thankfully the one served at the academy was alcohol-free.

"Hey, Hena," greeted Shane, who was the one who sat directly beside her, "Hi, Malon," he added to the redhead sitting in front of Hena across the table.

"Hey, how is it going?" Malon asked in an exaggeratedly happy manner, quickly drinking some more milk from her glass afterwards.

"Are you sure the milk served here doesn't contain alcohol?" murmured Baito to Link in the ear, eyeing Malon suspiciously.

"Positive," Link muttered back, "She always looks like that when she's drinking milk, whether it has alcohol or not."

Link noticed that Hena was also looking anxious. She was eating her breakfast at a faster rate than usual, drinking some juice now and then to avoid choking on it.

"What's the rush?" asked Baito suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Need to do some research on Transfiguration," she said, a bit of a hint in her voice.

Link immediately knew what she was talking about. She was nervous that Zelda's magic would go wrong that evening and she wanted to make sure that it was safe. Link himself felt uncomfortable about Zelda transforming him into another human being, however, he trusted her.

"But you don't even take Magic class!" exclaimed Shane to Hena incredulously as she left the table and rushed out of the Dinning Hall, leaving her dish half-finished. Link rolled his eyes at his friend's naiveness.

"Sometimes you can be so stupid, Shane," smirked Baito shaking his head, patting him in the arm. Shane just stared at him confused.

"Hey, Link, you were right!" said Shawn happily appearing out of nowhere, flashing a book in his hands and sitting next to Malon, "It was under my pillow!"

* * *

"I cannot believe we're actually doing this," admitted Hena a little taken back, hugging the small white bag in front of her where she had stored some food.

"Me neither," replied Link honestly.

"We'll get into so much trouble if we get caught," said Shane with his arms crossed, the food he carefully wrapped in a piece of cloth lying on the grass beside him.

"Don't even say it," hissed Link bitterly. "But I do want to see Linda…"

"Zelda must really like you," Hena told Link. "Otherwise she wouldn't have done all of this."

Her blond friend remained silent to her comment, but even in the darkness she could see that he was blushing.

Link, Hena and Baito were standing under a starless sky near their usual oak tree. The pitch-dark surroundings chilled Hena to the bone, but she knew that it was better that way as they could escape unnoticed. They were waiting uneasily for Zelda and Din. Baito even had started to pace around the garden impatiently. A weak ray of light suddenly crossed the garden, and the three of them quickly stared in its direction. They were able to see Din and Zelda coming out of the eastern door, the ray of light consuming immediately after the Hyrule princess closed the door behind her. Even in the darkness, Link was able to notice that Zelda was not wearing her usual long dresses, but some sporty-looking pants. Din, who was walking beside her, was also wearing similar clothes.

"Sorry we had you waiting," apologized Zelda to the three of them in a whisper as soon as she reached them. "Din couldn't decide which food to bring," she said rolling her eyes.

"Hey, it's a big decision to make between a cupcake and a pancake for dessert!" Din defended herself stressfully. "They both are really sugary!"

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Zelda sarcastically taking both hands to her mouth. Link, Baito and Hena burst to laugh.

"I was kidding," said Zelda smiling to her friend, who was glaring at her, and gave her a friendly hug.

"So, we should get going," suggested Baito, peering at the clock placed above the door where Zelda and Din had come out. "It's already a quarter past seven."

"Yea, let's go…" accepted Zelda.

The six of them started walking down the road that led to the southern area of the castle grounds. The awkward silence that floated in the air was making Link uncomfortable. He had the feeling that someone was following them. An abrupt noise suddenly erupted behind Link, causing him to turn worryingly in the direction of the sound.

"Sorry," murmured Hena, noticing that everybody had stopped moving and they were all staring at her. "I tripped with a rock."

"Why is it so dark?" asked Din complainingly to nobody in particular. "It's only seven p.m.!"

"The sun sets earlier during autumn," stated Link.

"I know what can be useful," said Din confidently. "_Incendia Orbis_!"

A small sphere of fire appeared out of nowhere, hovering inches above them. Its flames dimly illuminated their surroundings, enough to be able to see where they stepped.

"Nice idea!" said Shane approvingly.

"Won't that bring too much attention?" asked Hena worryingly.

"Be sure to extinguish that out before we leave the path," suggested Link to Din. "Or we'll be extremely easy to spot."

"Okay," agreed Din as she continued to walk, the small orb following her along the path, casting their shadows on the ground.

"We'll be spelled if we get caught?" asked Shane innocently to his companions as they continued to go downhill.

"Don't even mention it, Shane," scowled Link.

"Probably, yes," confirmed Zelda hesitatingly. "But you wanted to do this, right?"

"Yes, we do," answered Shane rapidly with a confident voice.

"You must be really desperate to see your friend to dare to do this," said Din.

"Yes, we actually do…" assured Link.

"Din, vanish that thing out already," said Zelda imperatively. "The trees are about to end."

"_Abolesco_," whispered Din. The small sphere disappeared in the spot, as if it had never been there.

Darkness started to reign again, but as the row of trees ended, the moon's glow was starting to reach them and their figures were illuminated again. Link glanced to his side to see the five students walking at the same pace beside him. That's when he noticed how random all of this was. A few weeks ago he barely spoke to Zelda at all, and now they were doing this suicidal mission with their friend circles blended?

"We must hurry up," said Zelda stunned, pointing the barn down ahead, where a big wagon was stationed beside it. "Talon's already here."

At first they only speeded up their pace, but then they started to literally run. Link was running as fast as he could, knowing that it was best to cross the fields as quickly as possible, as they could be easily spotted. He glanced to his right: he was now passing the greenhouse where this very afternoon he was planting some Deku seeds. When the barn was just right ahead, Link started to decrease his speed, catching up his breath. He peered over his shoulder to see where his friends were. They were far behind him, running through the tall grass frantically.

Link felt a hand softly grabbing his shoulder from behind, and he instantly jerked away from its grasp and turned to face whoever had done that.

"Hey, don't fear me, son," said the chubby man with a thick beard and mustache raising a hand to easy Link. "It's me, Talon."

Link took a whole second to recognize Romani's father. He had already seen him during Romani's fifteenth birthday party at the ranch, but nowadays he looked way older than the way he did two years ago. He looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks.

"Hello, Mr. Beck, how have you been?" greeted Link shaking his hand.

"Been working at the ranch, ya know," said Mr. Beck tiredly. Link saw a moving figure coming out of the barn and approaching them.

"Dad, where do you want me to put this cream?" asked Malon to her father, holding a big jar of a dense-looking cream in her hands.

"Malon!" exclaimed Link surprised, attempting to sound casual but failing badly. "Err… what are you doing here?"

"Oh, hello, Link," she said sheepishly. "I always help my father unload the stuff from the carriage."

"Oh… well… okay," mumbled Link nervously, not really knowing what to say.

"Dad already told me about your little adventure," said Malon. "Don't worry; I won't tell anyone," she added as she saw Link's worried expression.

"Oh, okay… thanks," said Link forcing a grin on his lips, unsure about trusting her.

"Hello, Mr. Beck," Link heard Zelda's voice behind him. The Hyrule princess came forward, and shook Talon's hand. "Thank you so much for doing all this!"

"Anything to help our princess," said Talon, bowing deeply. "You can already enter the carriage, if you want," he added while pointing the big wooden wagon beside the barn, where two brown horses waited impatiently for his master.

"Okay, thank you," Zelda said to Talon before turning to the rest. "Let's get inside, then."

"Good luck, guys!" said Malon waving enthusiastically at them.

"What the hell is Malon doing here?" Shane whispered in Link's ear as they moved forward.

"She was helping his father unload the milk bottles," Link recounted to Shane, not sounding enthusiastic at all.

"Man, she's going to tell everybody!" hissed Shane angrily, kicking a rock that was on his way.

"Did you know that she would be here?" asked Hena to Zelda.

"No, I didn't," replied Zelda sincerely, shaking her head. "But we have to trust that she won't tell anyone because we have no other choice."

"If she does, I'll make her life impossible," said Din seriously. Baito frowned upon her.

When they reached the end of the wagon, Link unveiled the tent curtains at the back of it and helped Zelda get in. After the three girls were safely inside, the guys proceeded to enter the wagon.

"Link, what you got there?" asked Baito frowning at Link's voluminous bag as he put it inside the wagon.

"Dinner," responded Link simply. When he noticed that Baito was staring suspiciously at him, he added: "And my bow and some arrows."

"Why did you bring them?" questioned Baito perplexed as he too placed his bag carefully inside the wagon.

"Just in case…" murmured Link as he climbed inside the wagon. "You never know…"

The small wagon was too cramped for the six high school students. Their bags with dinner inside also made up a lot of space. After Link closed the curtain behind him, the only light coming from the moon was extinguished. The six students waited silently for Talon to say goodbye to his daughter. Link could almost taste the nervousness that filled the air of the wagon. They suddenly felt a new weight on the wagon, and Link guessed that Talon was already at the front part. They heard a rattling sound coming from the wall that separated them from Talon, and a weak ray of moonlight entered the lodge. Talon had opened a rectangular compartment by the front which connected the wagon to the outside where Talon sat.

"Everything's okay, back there?" he asked to the students, turning his neck entirely so that he could face them, though the darkness was so thick inside that he could only see their silhouettes.

"Yes, Mr. Beck," answered Zelda as the others responded similar words.

"Okay, so I'll start moving the wagon," announced Talon. The students listened attentively. "I'll ask you to remain quiet as we leave the academy's grounds.

"Be silent as we cross Kakariko Village too, as we are not safe there yet, will ya?" asked Talon. Link could distinguish in his voice that he was nervous as well. The students again nodded, and Talon returned his attention back to the front.

Link heard the sound of the reins, and the wagon started moving slowly. He couldn't see his friends' faces, but he was sure that they were all looking apprehensive. The wagon leaped now and then as it passed over rocks on the road.

"Ouch!" exclaimed a deep voice that Link was sure it belonged to Baito.

"Sorry!" Hena quickly apologized.

"Shh!" the rest hissed, not knowing what had really happened.

The wagon suddenly stopped moving, and Link could hear Talon speaking with the guard at the gate that separated the academy's grounds from Kakariko Village. The stiffness could be smelled inside the wagon, as everyone was trying too hard to avoid making any noise. After a minute or so, Link heard the whipping sound of the bridle and they were set in motion again. He wanted so bad to peer outside of the wagon to see how the reconstruction of the village was going, however he remembered that the king had mentioned in the article that he would double security, so he didn't want to risk himself to be seen by a soldier.

It took the wagon around two minutes to cross the village. Talon looked around stunned at how fast the villagers had been working to restore their buildings. Everything seemed extremely quiet and still, occasionally passing by a Hylian solider leaning against a wall half-asleep. However, something drew the rancher's attention at the other side of the village. A caped figure was strolling slowly around the well. Their face was hidden under the hood, and the few torches scattered around the village didn't emit enough light to reveal his identity. He resisted the urge to drive in the figure's direction, remembering that they might be dangerous and the fact that he also carried high school students with him.

"Have a good evening, sir," uttered politely the soldier at the second gate that led to the open Hylian fields.

The chilly night breeze welcomed Talon as soon as they were outside. He caressed his left arm with his right hand, feeling the hairs standing on its end. Now the moon was the only source of light, as there wasn't a single star in the sky. The only sound was coming from the horse's hooves and the wagon's wheels.

Once they were far enough from Kakariko Village's gate, Talon turned around to tell the students that they could talk now. However, when he opened his mouth to speak, a piercing shriek came from the inside of the wagon.

"What happened?" exclaimed Talon scared, trying hard to adjust his eyes that he could see what was happening inside the wagon.

"Someone is shooting arrows at us!" screamed Din scared to death.

Talon didn't believe what he had heard. He was about to say something when his horse neighed loudly and fell to the ground, moving the whole wagon forward. The reins Talon had in his hands pulled him abruptly to the front, eventually falling beside his horse. He grabbed his head in pain as he attempted to stand up, not before noticing that his horse had an arrow deep inside one of its front legs.

**Thank you for reading! Please review ;)**


	8. Unwanted Surprises

**Okay, I know it took me far more than a week to write it. But here it is finally :)**

Chapter 8: Unwanted Surprises

"Everyone's okay?" Baito asked his companions after the wagon had abruptly collapsed to the ground, the sound of the wooden wheels being broken clearly audible.

"What are we gonna do!" exclaimed Hena alarmed, grabbing Baito's hand which was the closest, looking for protection.

"Everybody, get your heads down!" ordered Link as he took out swiftly the bow from his bag.

No one hesitated in obeying Link, and all of them ducked to the floor as the school champion opened the blanket that separated the wagon's insides from the exterior. His visibility wasn't very good, but he was able to see three moving figures riding horses and coming closer and closer to where they were. Link quickly directed an arrow towards one of them, hitting the rider with pinpoint accuracy. The horse yelped loudly in fright and changed its direction abruptly, eventually crashing with the second rider's horse and causing its master to fall. Meanwhile, the third rider had thrown a spear towards him, missing just by inches and making a hole in the covering of the wagon instead. With incredible reflexes, Link once again shot an arrow to the remaining rider, the arrow sinking deeply in their chest. The second rider, the one who had fallen from their horse, was now charging towards Link with a spear in hand. "Moblins", Link thought, not too surprised. He took out one last arrow and hit the Moblin when it was just a few yards away from him.

A deep silence now reigned in the chilly night, and Link stared in every direction to see if he detected some movement among the surrounding Hylian fields. However, everything was quite still. He turned around to face his friends, the shining moonlight now entering the wagon and revealing their petrified expressions.

"We can come out now, I think" he told them, a trace of insecurity in his voice.

"You THINK?" said Hena with shaky voice.

"Well, I don't hear anything…" said Link doubtfully. "Nor see anything," he added.

He was the first one to step out of the wagon, the others following him with caution. Link approached the fallen Moblins, kicking them lightly to see if they were still alive. However, all of their bodies remained inert on the ground.

"What the hell just happened!" exclaimed Shane, staring at the dead bodies. "Why were they chasing us?"

"How did they know we were here in first place?" asked Baito perplexed, Hena still holding his arm tightly.

No one answered. They were all clueless about what had just happened. Link turned around to face his friends. They all seemed okay, with a few scratches here and there on their faces and limbs, but otherwise fine. And then Link remembered that they had another member, the one who had led them there. He hurried to the front of the carriage, the rest following him. Talon was lying on the ground, grabbing his leg in pain. Link knelt beside him.

"Mr. Beck, are you okay?" he asked worryingly.

"I'm okay, son," said the old rancher, trying to hide the pain, "But I think I broke my leg."

"We need to get you to the hospital, quick!" said Hena alarmed.

"We can't go," said Talon skeptically shaking his head, "My horse can't even move."

And he was right. The adult horse was lying on the ground beside his master, whining silently. He had an arrow sunken in his left front leg and a small string of blood was streaming down to the grass.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Zelda panicked, first staring at the whining horse and then at Talon.

"We could go to the ranch and pick up the other horses and then come back here," suggested Shane, thinking hard (something that didn't happen usually).

"The ranch is still some miles away," Talon pointed out, trying to avoid moving his leg. "It would take forever to go by foot."

"Can't you heal the injury with magic?" Baito asked the Hylian princess and Din.

"Repair a broken bone? No way!" exclaimed Din exasperatedly.

"I was talking about the horse," said Baito, resisting the temptation to roll his eyes.

"Oh… we could try," said Din, now more relaxed. Healing animals was far easier than healing humans.

Din and Zelda approached the wounded horse, kneeling beside it and spreading their hands above the injury. The girls began muttering some enchanting words, and a faint light started to glow on the horse's wound. They continued for a while, however, they suddenly stood up and shook their heads.

"It's not working," said Zelda faintly. "It's something a Red Potion could heal, though."

"I'm sure the shops in Kakariko Village are already closed," uttered Shane disappointed.

"Wait… I know where we can find some," said Link brightly, remembering that he had some Red Potions among the things he left with the Guru-Guru the day of the Moblin invasion. "I need some help to get past the guards of Kakariko Village."

* * *

"How could you lose it!" asked Hena frantically, staring at her blue-haired friend.

"I don't know! I had it right here!" replied Linda, rummaging inside the pockets of her jeans, "Maybe I dropped it somewhere."

"Maybe you left it at the Potion Shop," suggested Hena.

"Do you have invitations for this party or not?" asked the Hylian guard standing at the front door of the Milk Bar impatiently, looking at the pair of girls suspiciously.

"You go," Linda told Hena, already giving her back to her, "I'll go and look for it at the shop."

"Do you want me to go with you?" shouted Hena at her friend who was already trotting away.

"I'm fine. It won't take long!" assured Linda peering over her shoulder to look at Hena.

Linda continued her half-running for a while, before reducing it to a normal walk. She didn't want to be at that stupid party anyway. Nor she didn't want to see Link dance with Zelda…

The sun was starting to hide behind two hills in the distance, illuminating the shops with a red bright color as Linda passed by. She still couldn't believe how she had behaved with Link, like an immature little girl expecting to get what she wants. Maybe they were just meant to be with each other, and she had just acted like a jealous girlfriend. Link and her were just friends after all.

Linda was now standing before the red wooden door of the Potion Shop. She had a hand on the doorknob and was about to push the door open when she heard a loud voice at the other side.

"I'm very busy, witch; better be important," asked the voice threateningly with a deep rough voice. "Why were you looking for me?"

The other voice replied, however, they did so quietly that Linda couldn't hear what was said.

"Are you completely sure you saw him, witch?" asked the first voice dangerously.

Linda hurried to press her ear against the door so that she could hear this time.

"Yes! He bought some Red Potions a while ago!" said a trembling voice that Linda recognized as the old lady's of the Potion Shop. "I swear!"

"How do you know it was him?" said the first voice impatiently, "Speak, hag!"

"He fits the description you gave me," replied the old lady. Linda could hear a trace of fear in her elderly voice.

"I'll advise the Master immediately," said the rough, not fully convinced. "You better be right or you will regret it, witch."

Linda heard some footsteps quickly approaching the door, becoming louder each time. Her whole body froze; she didn't see that coming. She couldn't do much but stare as the door flung open with one swift movement.

"Hey, look what we have here," said the same intimidating voice with a laugh, a pair of red eyes staring directly at Linda.

"Miss Adlam," said a voice that seemed too distant from Linda. She suddenly felt her body being shaken lightly, and her eyes flung open immediately. The face of Mrs. Miller materialized before her. Linda looked over her shoulder at the white walls and the flowers her parents had brought her earlier and then she remembered: she was at the hospital in the castle town.

"It's time for your medication, Miss Adlam," said the nurse calmly, leaving a spoon on Linda's night table and opening a glass bottle that contained a viscous metallic blue substance.

Linda didn't respond; she still had the nightmare vividly in her mind. Luckily, Mrs. Miller had interrupted it before the worst part came. She didn't show any resistance as the nurse inserted the spoon full of the blue substance inside her mouth. It tasted disgusting.

* * *

Link couldn't avoid smiling as they were reaching Lon Lon Ranch. Zelda's idea of how to get past the guards was ridiculous, but it had worked really well. She had transformed Din and Hena into beautiful, curvy middle-aged women. The goal was to seduce and distract the guards while Link went unnoticed through the gates. Din offered voluntarily for the task, saying that one of the soldiers was "hot". Hena on the other hand didn't seem too happy about it, but Link insisted until she gave up. Luckily the Guru-Guru was in a happy mood when Link reached the windmill on top of the hill. He didn't ask any questions about why he was in Kakariko Village this late at night or why he needed the Red Potions urgently, he merely gave Link the bag he had been keeping for him with a grin on his face. He didn't have any problems getting back to the gate, except for a lonely villager striding near the Skulltula House. Link waited until the villager was giving his back to him before he continued descending silently. When he reached the gate, Din and Hena were still flirting with the two guards. The black-haired woman who Link was sure was Din was actually kissing one passionately. Flinching slightly at the disturbing scene, he went through the gates unnoticed again. They successfully healed the horse's wound, and also eased Talon's pain. And now they were entering the stable that was near the entrance of Lon Lon Ranch.

"Listen up, kids," said Mr. Talon as Zelda helped him seat on a mound of hay. The stable wasn't very spacious, most of the area being occupied by individual stalls where horses were kept. "This is what we're gonna do."

Baito frowned slightly when Talon said "kids", but he gave the rancher his fullest attention as he started to explain what directions would be taken that night.

"We'll be riding four horses," he said, patting the horse that was nearest to him. "I need one of you to take me to the hospital separately from the rest of the group, or it would look too suspicious.

"However, that person won't be able to visit Linda or, again, it would look suspicious," he added in a serious tone.

"I'll do it," offered Din raising a hand. Her transfiguration was staring to wear off, her hair turning redder and redder every second. "I don't really know Linda, so I'm not making too much of a sacrifice…" she looked apologetically to Link, but everyone knew she was being honest. Talon nodded.

"Okay, so I'll go with Din," he confirmed. "Two of the horses will be ridden in pairs, and the last one just one person will ride it.

"I'll suggest you, Link, to take the last one," said Talon to the fair-haired teen, "You have a bow; you can protect the rest of us if something happens again."

Link nodded hesitatingly. He stared at Zelda with the corner of his eye, wishing that he would ride the horse with her instead.

"I'll go with you, Hena," said Zelda immediately to the half-transfigured girl.

"Hang on a second," said Shane looking alarmed. "I won't be holding Baito's waist!"

Everyone burst to laugh at Shane. Even Talon couldn't resist chuckling a bit.

"Fine, I'll go with Baito, then," said Hena rolling her eyes. Link couldn't help thinking that she actually wanted to.

"C'mon, I know you want to ride with me," Baito joked to Hena in a flirting tone, caressing her cheek.

"You're an ass!" exclaimed Hena, slapping his hand away. She punched him in the arm, and Baito laughed.

Zelda didn't seem too happy with the idea of going with Shane, but she pretended to be indifferent about it. Shane looked kind of excited.

"Okay, so off we go!" exclaimed Talon as Din helped him stand up. "We'll begin the transfigurations until we're close to the bridge."

"I thought we were having dinner first!" exclaimed Shane disappointed.

"Mr. Beck has a broken leg, idiot!" said Hena indignantly. "How dare you think about food right now!"

"Sorry…" murmured Shane embarrassed, his face turning a bright red.

* * *

Five horses making their way along the dirt path leading to the castle town in the middle of the night wasn't a common sight. Link knew that they would look really suspicious if anyone saw them, but luckily not a single soul seemed to be around. He was at the back of the group, watching over the others, a hand on the horse and one on the bow. Baito and Hena were riding the one closest to him, the freckly girl holding tightly on her friend's midsection. Shane and Zelda were riding a few yards ahead of them. The Hylian princess was holding onto Shane with a weak grip, so weak that she almost fell off the horse when the animal sped up. Din and Talon were at the front of the group, eventually stopping when the colossal Hyrule Castle could be seen ahead of them, the castle town at its feet. The other three horses stopped as well, their riders getting off them and approaching Talon.

"Okay, so here we are kids," said Talon inhaling deeply after Din helped him get off the horse. "We need to find a place where to hide the horses."

The group stared at him confusedly. They started looking at their surroundings, trying to find a place suitable to hide four adult horses. However, Hyrule fields were, well, indeed, fields. Infinite grass covered the vast plain land, maybe a few trees scattered here and there but not big enough.

"Oh! I know a spot," said Zelda triumphantly, waving a hand for the rest to follow her. She guided them several yards away from the castle, and started to go down a slope when Talon interrupted her trot.

"I don't think I can go downhill any further," admitted Talon out loud with a grimace of pain.

"Maybe I should take him to the hospital right away," suggested Din, helping Talon go back to where the ground level was even. "We can catch up later."

"We'll meet at the Hylian Cathedral at ten, in case we don't see you at the hospital!" exclaimed Zelda as Din and Talon were making their way towards the castle.

The rest of them continued descending the long slope, the horses struggling to follow their temporal masters as the path was becoming rocky. Within a minute, they reached the base of the dried up moat. It had been ages since the moat had dried up, and abundant vegetation dominated the bottom. However, the inner moat that surrounded the Hyrule Castle still existed. Shane glanced at the stone bridge that connected the Castle Town with the exterior field twenty meters above them.

"Be sure to leave them near the grass so they can eat," reminded Zelda as she carefully tied one end of the rope around the horse's neck and the other one around a tree.

"Do you think they'll be safe here?" Link asked Zelda, glancing back at the four tied horses as they went uphill again.

"I don't think anyone would descend this low," said Zelda confidently to him with a smile. It had been a while since Link saw her smiling at him that way that he suddenly felt confident that their little adventure would succeed.

"Okay, so it's Transfiguration time!" said Zelda smiling maliciously, but playfully, at the rest of the group. "Who goes first?"

Everyone remained silent.

* * *

Din and Talon were walking along the almost deserted corridors on the east side of the Castle Town. Now and then, a night roamer would give Din a strange stare: her bright, red hair brought too much attention even in the dark.

"Here we are," uttered Talon in relief when they were before an old four-story white building. Talon had a hand on the doorknob when Din stopped him.

"I can't go in," said Din, panicked. "I forgot to tell Zelda to transfigure me."

"Can't you transfigure yourself?" asked Talon.

"Well, it's harder if you can't see the target you're transfiguring…" explained Din, lacking confidence. "I better not take the risk…"

"Okay, then," said Talon nodding at her, "Would you be okay?"

"Yes, don't worry about me, Mr. Beck," replied Din, this time very confident. "I will try to find the rest; I can take care of myself."

"Very good," said Talon, grabbing the doorknob once more. "Thanks for helping me get here."

"It was no biggie," answered Din smiling before turning around and venturing along the narrow corridors once more.

"Are you sure this is the place?" asked a thirty-year-old bald man facing the same white building where Din and Talon were talking a few minutes ago.

"Shane, look at the BIG sign above the door," said a dark-haired woman rolling her eyes and pointing, indeed, a sign hung above the door of the building that said "HYRULE HOSPITAL".

"We're gonna go inside all together?" asked a brown-haired tall man to an attractive woman with curly golden hair.

"Yes, Link," replied the woman, "We're all supposed to be relatives of Linda."

"Relatives?" asked a dark-haired man amazed, almost laughing. "We don't even look alike between each other, let alone look like Linda."

"Well, I didn't think about that beforehand…" murmured Zelda blushing badly. "But we have to trust that they won't doubt us after seeing my father's signature."

"How come you were able to transfigure yourself?" asked the same dark-haired man out of curiosity. "I remember Farore saying that it was too difficult to transfigure oneself."

"Baito, save your curiosity for later!" exclaimed Hena exasperatedly. "We should get going." However, Zelda did answer.

"My nursemaid taught me the arts of transfiguration at a very early age," Zelda explained, this time blushing out of modesty. "I used to turn the rats in the sewers of the castle into small puppies when I was around six."

"What the hell where you doing in the sewers? !" asked Shane incredulously.

"I used to play there," replied Zelda, blushing once again. "I was a very strange kid…"

They all laughed quietly.

"Well, we'll be visiting them in a while," uttered Zelda with a smile. "We'll get inside the castle through the sewers."

"We are wha…!" began exclaiming Hena loudly. However, Link gently slapped her hand as a signal of telling her to be quiet because Zelda was already opening the door of the hospital, a bright light coming from the inside and stunning their eyes.

Shane was the last one to enter, and he closed the door behind him. The room wasn't very spacious, the walls being of a mint cream color. It consisted only of a couch with four seats facing a counter at the other side and two doors at the back of the corridor-like room. A young lady with short, blue hair with a pink tank top was behind the counter, reading boringly the newspaper from that day. She peered over it and stared bitterly at the five people that had just entered the hospital. She had never seen such a random group of people in her life.

"Visits ended at nine," she told them in a curtly manner after seeing that none of them looked injured, returning her attention back to the newspaper.

"We have a permission from the king to see Linda Adlam," said Zelda forcing an authority tone, walking to the counter and leaving an official-looking envelope on the counter.

"Really?" asked the bitter lady raising an eyebrow. She took the letter that Zelda had left in the counter and tore the envelope with such ferocity that Hena took a few steps back.

While the lady was reading at top speed the letter that was inside the envelope, Baito was checking her out. She would look really pretty if she didn't have that expression on her face as if she had just smelt crap.

"So," said the lady folding the letter in a careless manner and frowning at Zelda, "You are all relatives of Linda Adlam?"

"Yes, we are, Miss," replied Zelda confidently, making eye contact.

"You don't look at all like Miss Adlam," scorned the blue-haired lady coldly.

"Well, what can I say," said Zelda, laughing nervously.

"Are you her aunt, her cousin?" inferred the bitter lady to Zelda.

"I'm her cousin, Minela," lied Zelda. She wasn't speaking as confident as she was at the beginning of the conversation.

"Minela, uh?" said the lady in a malicious tone. She then stared at bald man that was Shane. "And you, who are you?"

"I'm Jerry, Linda's uncle," said Shane, inventing wildly. She caught him unprepared.

"You know, Miss," said Zelda, losing her patience and frowning at her, "We already gave you the letter; we don't need to give you any explanations or…"

"You know, it's funny," interrupted the lady with a smirk.

"What's funny?" said Zelda curtly. She was beginning to get angry.

"I didn't know I had an uncle named Jerry or a cousin named Minela," retorted the lady mockingly. "And I'm sure my sister didn't either."

Zelda's heart skipped a beat.

**I know it's really short, but I had the urge to finish this chapter already :P**


End file.
